Introduction to Sikhi
How do we understand Sikhi in the present age? Is it a syncretic mix of Hinduism and Islam? Is it a movement within Hinduism? Can we call it a religion?
How do we understand Sikhi in the present age? Is it a syncretic mix of Hinduism and Islam? Is it a movement within Hinduism? Can we call it a religion? If we call Sikhi a dharam, how do we understand it in contradistinction to the idea of religion in the West and that of dharma among the Hindus? The above questions have their origin in modernist and historicist theoretical approaches that have been defining the field of Sikh Studies until recent times. Introduction to Sikhi will be an interdisciplinary course offering philosophical reflections on key Sikh concepts to have a fresh look at the history and religion of the Sikhs. The course will reflect on the spiritual foundations of the social transformation that the marginalised groups in Punjab and beyond experienced as a result of the advent of Sikhi.
- Reflections on the idea of religion and the Sikh contribution to it.
- Praxis before the conceptual orientation: Understanding the Sikh difference
- Sikhi and the spiritual/religious binary
- Divinity within temporality
- Shabad, Naam, and the divine within
- Humanism and the Sikh idea of Human
- The relevance of Sikhi in the contemporary world
Lecturer: Prabhsharandeep Singh
Prabhsharandeep Singh is a Sikh scholar whose research involves areas such Sikh Studies, Study of Religions, Religious Experience, Religion and Literature, Religion and Violence, Postcolonial Theory, Intellectual History, and Continental Philosophy. He has Masters in English (Punjabi University), Masters in Study of Religions (SOAS, University of London), DPhil cand. (University of Oxford). He writes poetry in Punjabi and English. He has recently published a collection of Punjabi poetry titled Des Nikala that has poems on the themes such as exile, memory, trauma, time, and language.
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge and respect the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, on which the Vancouver Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies operates. We honour and recognize these nations as the true stewards of this land and are grateful to have the opportunity to work, study, and learn on this territory.