Head First: Young British Sikhs, Hair, and the Turban

Abstract

A number of recent controversies have highlighted the importance of religious symbols in contemporary British society. As one of the most distinctive minority ethnic communities in Britain today, Sikhs are always affected by these controversies as many maintain an external identity, the most important aspects of which are arguably uncut hair and the turban. This article presents the results of a qualitative study into the perspectives of young British Sikhs (18-32) on hair and the turban. Twenty five semistructured interviews were conducted with young Sikhs who treat these articles of faith in different ways. The interviews focused on understanding how young British Sikhs view the keeping of the hair and turban, what these Sikh symbols mean to them, what issues they face in keeping an external identity, and how keeping these symbols fits in with the idea of being British and Sikh. Although the importance of these symbols is unique to each individual, the findings may enhance our understanding of why the maintenance of external religious symbols is still important for many young people today.

Living with alopecia areata: an online qualitative survey study

“…The principal limitation of this study is the predominance of white women among the participants. This is particularly important to note given that meanings attached to hair are influenced by sex and ethnicity, and future studies should consider ways to reach more diverse participants. The survey link for this study was circulated via Alopecia UK and the authors’ online networks.…”

“…influenced by sex and ethnicity, [34][35][36][37][38] and future studies should consider ways to reach more diverse participants. The survey link for this study was circulated via Alopecia UK and the authors' online networks.…”

Seeking the Image of ‘Unmarked’ Sikh Women: Text, Sacred Stitches, Turban

“…Although worn by a very small number of women, these images have contributed to the turban becoming part of Sikh women's religious 'materiality of the diaspora' (Werbner 2000: 5). One of the reasons for Sikh females wearing turbans revolves around a perceived need to move beyond traditional gender norms and Punjabi Sikh traditions (Singh 2010). Clearly, however, the turban, as the ultimate Sikh male 'sign', unequivocally is not representative of Sikh female identity.…”

Identities in Practice: A Trans-Atlantic Ethnography of Sikh immigrants in Finland and in California

“…The terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001 ascribed a new meaning to the Sikh turban due to its similarity to the turban worn by Osama bin Laden and his adherents in al-Qaeda who were responsible for the attacks. The effects of this 'mistaken identity' , 13 which merged Sikhs and Muslims in the popular imagination due to their appearance (see Stringer 2006: 221), were suffered by the Sikh community in the US as well as in other countries, such as the UK (see Singh 2010), and included verbal attacks, vandalism, assaults and the murder of one Sikh in the US. The most recent tragic event in this series of hate crimes was an attack on a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin in 2012 in which a gunman killed six people.…”