Welcome
This PhD research project follows on from research on young British Sikhs, hair and the turban which I carried out as part of an MA in Religion and Public Life. This research discovered that a variety of events are now being organised which aim to transmit Sikhism to 18-30 year old young British Sikhs. What is surprising however is that many of these events are being organised by young British Sikhs themselves. Given that modernity and globalisation supposedly lead to the corrosion of tradition and authority through the process of ‘detraditionalization’ (Heelas 1996: 2) the main intellectual problem of this study is to understand how young British Sikhs are engaging with their tradition and how they negotiate ideas of identity, authority and belonging.
Supervised by Prof. Kim Knott and Dr. Sean McLoughlin and funded by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society programme and the Bradford Educational and Cultural Association of Sikhs (BECAS), this research project seeks to investigate the transmission of religion among young British Sikhs with the intention of providing a theoretical framework to help understand the (re)production of religion in modernity in a minority diasporic community.
This project will focus on questions such as: What understanding do British Sikhs in the age range 18-30 have of Sikhism? What drives young British Sikhs to organise and attend Sikhism related events? What sources of authority do young British Sikhs draw on, and how have their acquired their knowledge of Sikh tradition, belief and practice? The research will seek to understand how young British Sikhs (18-30) are learning about Sikhism and will focus on the role of Gurdwaras, Camps/Youth Events and the Internet. Examining the recent emergence of these events, and of the impact of the Internet will allow us to understand how members of minority ethnic groups are impacted by detraditionalization whilst still wishing to maintain membership of a minority diasporic community.
ONLINE SURVEY NOW CLOSED: http://www.survey.leeds.ac.uk/sikhs
MANY THANKS TO THE 645 RESPONDENTS
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