1 - Understanding Sikh Nationalism

Summary

This chapter outlines how theories of ethnicity and nationalism have been applied to the Sikhs. It reviews the distinction between primordialists and instrumentalists, the modernist and ethno-symbolic theories of nationalism and discusses the postcolonial approaches. The most recent methodological approaches applied to the Sikhs are evaluated with reference to the literature on diasporas, long-distance nationalism, globalisation and religious nationalism The approach taken in this study is integrative. It draws on theories of ethnicity and nationalism, in particular Smith’s ethno-symbolic approach, to understand the emergence of modern Sikh nationalism. It locates the nation and state-building processes in the colonial and postcolonial world which shaped Sikh destinies as a highly conscious minority in the Punjab up to 1947 and beyond. The diaspora and the politics of the Sikhs in the Punjab as seen as mutually dependent variables. And the literature on religious nationalism is taken as the point of departure for critiques of how the secular Indian state has managed the Sikh question since 1947. Like the Jews, who have struggled with self-identities of religion, nation and an ethnic minority, a reading of modern nationalism among Sikhs is possible if its religious and ethnic roots and character are acknowledged.