AP/RLST 3802 3.00
Sikh History and Thought
An overview of Sikhism, major texts of Sikh tradition, and the rich array of poetics, musical thought and languages involved. It exposes students to the Sikh geographical imagination which emerges in sacred texts, place and institutional development, and embodied practices. Students will also gain insights into the religious and cultural circulations between Punjab, South Asia, and the diaspora. The course opens up perspectives on cultural and vernacular circulations as they emerge in Sikh aesthetics and engages with the historical interactions between Sikh, Sufi, and Sant Mat movements. The course will also raise important questions to students with regard to how colonialism and orientalism influenced the optics of reading Sikh religion, scripture, heterogenous groups, history and thought. Institutional development and place-based practices such as gurdwaras, temples, street processions, pilgrimage, and embodied practices of religion will be examined that engender the plurality of Sikh spaces. In doing so, the course raises an awareness of the deeper religious relation and performative thought both in the historical context and contemporary landscapes of Punjab, South Asia, and the diaspora. By engaging with a wide range of disciplinary perspectives—geographical, historical, philosophical, aesthetic and cultural—students will develop a foundation in approaching Sikh religious traditions from a multi-dimensional lens.
RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Sikhism
Course Category: Religious Thoughts and Practices