Managing Strangerhood: Young Sikh Men's Strategies

Abstract

This paper offers a critique of accounts of 'the stranger' that lack empirical grounding and are fetishising, suspicious and anxious. Instead, I propose that we should engage with strangers and move towards more relational, emotional and embodied accounts of the place of the stranger in contemporary society. In order to illustrate this argument, I draw upon qualitative research with young Sikh men growing up in urban Scotland to explore the complex strategies enacted by these young men in responding to being placed in the position of the stranger. The strategies employed by the young men include educating others, managing multicultural intimacies, affiliating with the Scottish nation and travelling far to socialise with friends. Overall, this paper offers a relational, embodied and emotional set of insights into young Sikh men's strategies for managing being cast as strangers and demonstrates the agency and creativity of the young men in doing so.

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