Studying the Sikhs
Issues for North America
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Description
This basic guide and resource book targets four fields—religious studies, history, world literature, and ethnic or migration studies—in which Sikhism is now receiving greater attention. The authors explain the problems of studying and interpreting Sikhism, and opportunities for integrating Sikh studies into a broader curriculum in each field. They also provide a sense of the Sikh community's own approach to education, and evaluate materials and approaches at the North American university level. Included are a sample syllabus with an explanatory essay, a bibliographical guide, a glossary, and a general bibliography. Gurinder Singh Mann's review of his course on Sikhism is an effective mini-guide to the field as a whole.
John Stratton Hawley is Professor and Chair of Religion at Barnard College and Director of the Southern Asian Institute at Columbia University. Gurinder Singh Mann is Assistant Professor of Sikh Studies and South Asian Religion at Columbia University.
Reviews
"Scholars around the world have long recognized the need to expand the study of Sikhism which has frequently been imbedded in broader works on Indian tradition and religion. This book presents a rationale for looking at Sikhism as an independent religious tradition, provides a background for previous work in the area, and outlines possible directions for future scholarship in the field. The authors of the essays represent some of the foremost scholars of the field in North America. They capably establish that there is a need to develop this area of scholarship further, providing suggestions for possible directions that can be undertaken in the field. "—Jane Singh, University of California at Berkeley