Young Sikhs in a Global World

Negotiating Traditions, Identities and Authorities

Knut A. Jacobsen, Kristina Myrvold

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134790883
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Filosofía oriental

In attempting to carve out a place for themselves in local and global contexts, young Sikhs mobilize efforts to construct, choose, and emphasize different aspects of religious and cultural identification depending on their social setting and context. Young Sikhs in a Global World presents current research on young Sikhs with multicultural and transnational life-styles and considers how they interpret, shape and negotiate religious identities, traditions, and authority on an individual and collective level. With a particular focus on the experiences of second generation Sikhs as they interact with various people in different social fields and cultural contexts, the book is constructed around three parts: 'family and home', 'public display and gender', and 'reflexivity and translations'. New scholarly voices and established academics present qualitative research and ethnographic fieldwork and analyse how young Sikhs try to solve social, intellectual and psychological tensions between the family and the expectations of the majority society, between Punjabi culture and religious values.

PART I:
Family and Home

Chapter 1
Family Values: The Impact of Family Background on the Religious Lives of Young British Sikhs

Jasjit Singh

To date, few scholars have examined the religious lives of young Sikh adults even though the British Sikh population is currently skewed towards youth. Indeed, according to the 2011 UK census, of the 423,158 Sikhs currently living in England and Wales, 105,985 (25 per cent) are between the ages of 15 and 29, further highlighting the necessity to understand the religious lives of young Sikh adults. Examining the literature on Sikhs in Britain, it is clear that although much has been written about Sikh migrants and Sikh migration, there has been very little research examining how British-born young Sikhs engage with their religious tradition. As Gurharpal Singh and Darshan S. Tatla note:

Sikh youth today clearly continue to identify with the religious tradition, but this identification is far more complex and ambiguous than hitherto … In the absence of more detailed, systematic and comprehensive research in this extremely important area, all conclusions must remain tentative. The culture of young British Sikhs today remains an area of darkness for the community and a testing ground for its uncertain futures. (Singh and Tatla, 2006, p. 207)

In this chapter I will enlighten an aspect of this “area of darkness” by analysing how the family environment impacts on the religious lives of young Sikh adults. To date, studies of young British Sikhs have focused on Sikh children and adolescents with Alan G. James’s pioneering study of the lives of Sikh children in Huddersfield highlighting the importance of the family and the gurdwara as key arenas for religious nurture (James, 1974). More recent accounts include Heidi Larson’s study of minority children in Southall (Larson, 1999), Diane Jeanette Hadwen’s study of religious nurture in the gurdwaras in Bradford (Hadwen, 1995) and Eleanor Nesbitt’s numerous studies of Sikh children in Coventry (Nesbitt, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2009). In her studies, Nesbitt notes the importance of zat (caste) in differentiating family experience with regards to education and employment (Nesbitt, 2011, p. 238) highlighting discrepancies between the lived reality of Sikhs and textbook representations of Sikhism, in particular regarding attitudes and experiences in relation to caste and gender. Studies which have examined the religious lives of young Sikh adults include Beatrice Drury’s exploration of the maintenance of tradition among teenage Sikh girls and Kathleen D. Hall’s investigation of identity formation among Sikh teenagers in Leeds (Drury, 1991; Hall, 2002). Drury distinguishes between those who conform to tradition (willingly or unwillingly) and those who abandon tradition (with or without the permission of their parents). For Drury, conformity relates to maintaining the external Sikh identity, with non-conformity being defined as a lack of commitment to preserving the Sikh identity. Similarly, Hall links religious adherence to the importance of maintaining family honour, arguing that young Sikhs “encounter two contrasting ideologies – the ideology of family honour and the ideology of British nationalism or British cultural purity” (Hall, 2002, p. 149). The main issue with both of these frameworks is that they define conformity in relation to parental pressure, and assume that young Sikhs maintain a religious identity primarily to please their parents.

This review of relevant literature highlights the fact that to date there have been few dedicated studies of young Sikh adults, particularly those young Sikhs in the phase of “emerging adulthood” which is a period of life that falls between the ages of 18 and 30, and according to Jeffrey Arnett has recently emerged in industrialized societies (Arnett, 2000, p. 473). Much like the life stages of “teenager” and “adolescence” which emerged in the twentieth century due to changes in education, child labour laws, mass consumerism and the media, the phase of “emerging adulthood” has evolved in the late twentieth century due to four key social factors (Smith and Snell, 2009, pp. 4–6), the first of these being the increase of up to 50 per cent of young adults undertaking higher education in Western societies (BBC, 2008). In the case of Britain, this means that fewer young people are leaving school at 18 and that many are now extending their schooling beyond the age of 21 and often into their thirties, increasing the number of young Sikhs in higher education (Thandi, 1999, p. 355). This relates to the second crucial change, which is the delay of marriage among emerging adults. According to the UK Office of National Statistics’s “Social Trends” report, “men, on average, were 31.8 years of age when they tied the knot for the first time … compared with 29.3 years 10 years earlier. Women were also putting off the big day, on average until the age of 29.7 compared with 27.2” (Ormsby, 2009). Compared to previous generations of South Asians, particularly women, many of whom would live at home until marriage (Nayar, 2004, p. 93), many young people now face almost a decade between the end of university and marriage in which to examine their views on life, the universe and everything.

The third factor which has led to the development of emerging adulthood is the change from careers being “for life” to careers becoming less secure and requiring ongoing training, leading many young people to feel “a general psychological orientation of maximizing options and postponing commitments” (Smith, 2009, p. 5), and thinking nothing of continually learning and developing their ideas and impacting on continued education and delayed marriage. Fourth, young emerging adults enjoy the support of their parents for much longer than previous generations, with many living with their parents until marriage. Although this may not be a change in behaviour for many young Sikhs who would live with their parents until marriage anyway (Johnston, 2004, p. 1079), it appears that young adults as a whole are generally living with their parents well into their twenties (Wallup, 2008), allowing them more time to explore their ideas, and offering them increased resources within which they are able to examine their identities as emerging adults.

Examinations into the religious lives of emerging adults have raised a number of interesting observations. In his research into young white Christian emerging adults Arnett notes that there is no link between the religious training people receive throughout their childhood and the religious beliefs they hold by the time they reach emerging adulthood and that “this is a different pattern than is found in adolescence [which reflects greater continuity]” (Arnett, 2004, p. 174). For Arnett, “something changes between adolescence and emerging adulthood that dissolves the link between the religious beliefs of parents and the beliefs of their children” (Arnett, 2004, p. 174), a change which results from the exposure to new ideas and influences outside the family which young people encounter at college and university. The claim that childhood religious training has little impact on religious belief and practice in emerging adulthood is a startling one. Is childhood religious socialization totally overridden by experiences in emerging adulthood, or do emerging adults bring some aspects of childhood socialization with them? What is the link between childhood religious socialization and continued membership of a religious community in emerging adulthood?

Methodology for Studying Young Sikhs

For this study a mixed methods approach was taken to carry out the research, using a variety of data sources as part of the investigation (Denscombe, 2007, p. 37). As Martyn Denscombe explains, “the Mixed Methods approach provides the researcher with the opportunity to check the findings from one method against the findings from a different method … [meaning that] where different methods produce data that are more or less the same the researcher can feel more confident in assuming that the findings are accurate” (Denscombe, 2007, p. 109). The main methods included semi-structured interviews with thirty 18- to 30-year-old British Sikhs who had attended and participated in events organized for young Sikhs; the implementation of a self-selecting online survey of young British Sikhs; running focus groups with Sikh students across the UK; and participant observation at events organized for young Sikhs, including Sikh camps and university Sikh society events with the fieldwork being undertaken between 2009 and 2011. The online survey elicited 645 responses in total, having been advertised on discussion forums relating to Sikhism and bhangra and on Facebook pages belonging to gurdwaras, Sikh camps, university Sikh societies and bhangra groups in order to reach to as wide a range of respondents as possible. As there is currently no means of obtaining a random sample from all young British Sikhs and as young people are a difficult population to study as they tend to be very busy and mobile (Denton and Smith, 2001, p. 2), online survey respondents were self-selecting and consequently the respondents were likely to be young Sikhs with a strong commitment to Sikhism. This is justified by the fact that the research examined how and why young Sikhs engage with their religious tradition and therefore sought the views of young Sikhs who would respond to an online survey relating to the Sikh tradition. Rather than aiming to gather the views of young Sikhs from one or all of the various groups in the Sikh community, I examine here the socialization of young Sikhs from a variety of sectarian and ideological backgrounds.

The Role of Sikh Families

Although not originally intended to be a distinct arena of study, especially given Arnett’s assertion that there is no link between childhood socialization and religiosity in emerging adulthood, the online survey in particular highlighted the importance of the family environment for 18- to 30-year-old British Sikhs (Arnett, 2004, p. 174). Over 33 per cent of the respondents stated that they spent most of their time with their family and as Figure 1.1 demonstrates, parents and family also featured prominently in responses to a question asking the respondents about their main sources of guidance in life.

The pre-adult period of life can be divided into childhood (up to 13 years old) and adolescence (13 to 18 years) with many scholars observing a decline in religious adherence from childhood to adolescence (Roberts and Yamane, 2011, p. 97). Sociologists of religion highlight the role of the family as the primary agent of religious socialization throughout the life course as well as being the main influence on religious choices (Sherkat, 2003, pp. 151–8). Indeed, Phil Zuckerman concludes that “ultimately, religious identity and conviction aren’t generally so much a matter of choice or faith or soul-searching as a matter of who [sic] and what one’s parents, friends, neighbours and community practice and profess” (Zuckerman, 2003, p. 51). It can be argued that of these, the family is the most important factor in religious socialization determining the types of friends, neighbours and community which the individual is exposed to in early life.

Figure 1.1 Main sources of guidance in life according to online survey respondents

Although Sikh families may share some elements, many have their own unique way of expressing and practising Sikhism influenced by their migration experiences, caste, political affiliation, economic status and the extent to which they are committed to the Sikh faith (Hadwen, 1995, p. 72). This commitment to the Sikh faith will vary considerably, with certain families aligning themselves to particular sants, Khalsa groups or other charismatic individuals. In order to further understand the family environments in which young British Sikhs grow up I will first focus on the diversity within Sikh families, before describing some of the similarities.

Diversity in Sikh Families

In her recent examination of Sikh diversity in the UK, Nesbitt highlights a number of axes along which diversity exists in the British Sikh community, including locality, caste, political diversity, generation, language and religious groupings (Nesbitt, 2011). Using data gathered primarily through the interviews and survey data I will now examine diversity in relation to locality, caste, religious identity, language and migration history in particular, while also discussing diversity in relation to generation and cultural consumption.

Locality

Taking the statistics from the 2011 census regarding the distribution of the British Sikh community, it becomes clear that the Sikh community is concentrated in particular areas of the UK. Most of the British Sikh population, 84.9 per cent, lives within London, the South East and the East and West Midlands with a smaller presence in Yorkshire and Humberside (see Table 1.1):

Table 1.1 The British Sikh population by locality

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011.

As well as differences relating to the number of Sikhs in a particular area, research on local Sikh populations has identified much caste-based regional diversity largely matching patterns of caste-specific migration (Nesbitt, 2011, p. 237). Local diversity has an important impact on religious transmission, both on the institutional choices and facilities available to young British Sikhs and also on the caste configuration of local Sikh populations.

Caste

As Table 1.2 highlights, certain regions of the UK have higher caste concentrations than others, although it must be remembered that Jats constitute around 70 per cent of the total Sikh population and will therefore be present in most regions (see Table 1.2.). Sikh migration to the UK mapped along caste lines has been summarized by Nesbitt as follows, with the Bhatras arriving from the 1930s onwards and settling in Glasgow, London, Liverpool, Cardiff, Swansea, Bristol, Southampton, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and Peterborough. Jats and Ramgarhias (primarily from India) followed from the 1950s onwards settling in Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester, Gravesend, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Southall, Slough, Ealing, East Ham, Barking, Forest Gate, Bedford, Derby, Bradford, Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow, Huddersfield and Scunthorpe. Ramgarhias and other East African migrants arrived from the 1970s onwards and settled in Southall, Birmingham, Leicester and Leeds. Recently Afghani Sikhs have arrived from the 1990s onwards and settled primarily in Southall (Nesbitt, 2011).

Table 1.2 Sikh migration by caste

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011.

While caste may influence religious socialization in terms of gurdwara attendance, this is not as clear-cut as it is often presented, with many Jats attending the Ramgarhia gurdwara in Coventry (Nesbitt, 2009, p. 43) and similarly, I have observed many Ramgarhias attending a primarily Jat gurdwara in Leeds. In their survey responses, many young Sikhs appeared to strongly reject the notion of caste, stating that “there is no caste in Sikhism” and “caste is utterly stupid”. Given its status as an issue which many young Sikhs explicitly reject and given that religious transmission events are not explicitly organized based on caste lines given the Gurus’ apparent rejection of the notion of caste (Baumann, 1996, p. 110), caste membership was not used as a factor with which to examine any differences in religious transmission practices.

Migration History

As Singh and Tatla explain, the various phases of migration through which Sikhs arrived in Britain led to an uneven employment profile among British Sikhs, and to differences in levels of education (Singh and Tatla, 2006, p. 67). Although more than three quarters of the community worked as manual, unskilled workers in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of professional and skilled Sikhs increased significantly with the arrival of the East African migrants in the 1970s (Singh and Tatla, 2006, p. 148). For Hall, class is the main reason why the British Sikh population has become increasingly differentiated as different members of the population acquire different levels of economic, cultural and social capital through their occupational, academic and social accomplishments (Hall, 2002, p. 152).

In her study of Sikh children in Coventry, Nesbitt wonders if “differences of social class and geographic region … will affect the religious lives of British Sikh children in different ways” (Nesbitt, 2000, p. 261). Although, as explained, locality clearly impacts accessibility to transmission resources, the role of migration history is slightly more complex. As Alison Shaw (2004) observes, the literature on class differences in South Asian communities tends to distinguish between “direct migrants” and “twice migrants”. Parminder Bhachu (1985) notes that the socioeconomic status of twice migrants is generally high in comparison with the direct migrants as their English is fluent, and many were professionals or had business experience from Africa giving them a head start in processes of resettlement in Britain. In addition Shaw observes that as well as being more likely to leave the choice of spouse to their child, linked to the fact that they have fewer socioeconomic ties with the subcontinent, women in twice migrant families:

are also more likely to be in paid employment outside of the home, and their daughters are more likely to become college or university graduates who will delay marriage and childbearing and choose their own spouses. These processes mark them out, to some extent, from ‘direct migrants’. (Shaw, 2004, p. 278)

The distinction between “direct” and “twice” migrants clearly also has an impact on religious nurture, as those who have relatives or contacts in India, regardless of caste, are more likely to visit the Punjab as children and consequently to visit sites of Sikh history, including the Golden Temple in Amritsar. For Sirjit, a 23-year-old male from the South of England, visiting the Golden Temple at a young age had an important impact on the rest of his life as a Sikh:

I was born in the UK – and my family were not particularly religious … but when I was 6 or 7, I went to Harmandir Sahib [the G...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction: Young Sikhs in a Global World
• Part I: Family and Home
• Part II: Representation and Gender
• Part III: Reflexivity and Translation
• Glossary
• Index