Reflections on Sikh State Building
Does Sikhi constitute a different world civilization? Do Sikhs have a solid ideological and historical foundation for building a unique state system? What would Sikh strategy look like? What are the relations between Sikhi and modernity, postmodernity, and democracy? What is the Sikh theory of warfare? What would a Sikh economy look like? What are the Sikh traditions of Gurmata and Sarbat Khalsa? What would a Sikh state look like? These are some crucial questions we will deal with in this course. Sikhi is a unique (naira) way of life. It contains the philosophical and ideological foundations of an alternative socio-political and economic system. However, this system has never been fully articulated. Most Sikh scholars who have written about these issues have done so only as passing remarks. It is tough to find sustained academic reflections on these questions.
This course is designed as a corrective. It is a deep dive into these issues that hold immense significance. These topics are reflected with a long view of Sikh history in mind. Sikh perspectives on these issues will be compared with those of other world civilizations as well. Thus, this course will provide an opportunity for the student to see what Sikh polity might look like in real practice. Situating Sikh history within the broader history of the world without reducing it to the frameworks of mainstream historiography will be a unique feature of this course.
It is an interdisciplinary course. Most lectures will include insights from philosophy, religious studies, history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and political science. The psychological component is another crucial aspect that will shed a different light on the topics under discussion. A composite methodology will be used to dissect the issues. For example, while discussing democracy, we will start with ancient Greece, look at the development of democracy in medieval Europe, move on to how democracy was introduced in the colonies, and how Sikh political practice, which is egalitarian in spirit, is different from the modern version of democracy.
This course is a unique opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics with a constant reference to the Sikh tradition. It is the first course of its kind that is offered anywhere in the world. It aims to provide an insight into the world of Sikh polity from multiple perspectives.
We will roughly cover the following topics:
1. Foundations of Sikh Civilization (Introduction)
2. Strategy and the Sikh Ethos
3. Sikh Theory of Warfare
4. Sikh Economic Paradigm
5. Sikh Vision of History
6. Sikh Culture (Sikhi and Punjabi Culture)
7. Sikhi and Modernity
8. Sikhi and Postmodernity
9. Sikhi and Democracy
10. Gurmata: Sikh Decision-Making
11. Sarbat Khalsa: The Sikh Collective Spirit
12. Sikh Psyche
13. Sikh State: What Would It Look Like?
summer 2024
Start Date: Friday 17 May 2024
Time: Friday 6 PM - 9 PM (PST)
Lecturer: Prabhsharanbir Singh
Prabhsharanbir Singh did his PhD at the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program at the University of British Columbia. His teaching and research interests include philosophy, psychoanalysis, cultural politics of identity, globalization, decolonial studies, and Sikh Studies. In his dissertation, he examined the role of colonial technologies of control in shaping postcolonial subjectivity in South Asia. He has published several scholarly articles in research journals like Sikh Formations and The Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology. His most recent publication is ‘Deep Sidhu, Kisan Morcha and the erasure of Sikh suffering in the liberal imagination.’ He holds an MA in Philosophy from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. He loves hiking, birding, and photography in his spare time.
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.