‘So people know I'm a Sikh’: Narratives of Sikh masculinities in contemporary Britain

Abstract

Drawing on empirical research and informed by recent theoretical discussions surrounding faith identities and masculinities, this article examines second and third generation, British born Sikh men's identification to the Sikh faith. In particular, it focuses on the appropriation and use of recognised Sikh symbols amongst young British men who define themselves as Sikh. This article suggests that whilst there are multiple of ways of 'being' a Sikh man in contemporary postcolonial Britain, and marking belonging to the Sikh faith, there is also a collectively understood idea of what an 'ideal' Sikh man should be. Drawing upon Connell and Messerschmidt's (2005) discussion of locally specific hegemonic masculinities, it is suggested that an ideal Sikh masculine identity is partly informed by a Khalsa discourse, which informs a particular construction and performance of Sikh male identity, whilst also encouraging the surveillance of young men's activities both by themselves and by others within the wider Sikh collective. These Sikh masculinities are complex and multiple, rotating to reaffirm, challenge and redefine contextualised notions of hegemonic masculinity within the Sikh diaspora in postcolonial Britain. Such localised Sikh masculinities may both assert male privilege and reap patriarchal dividends, resulting in particular and specific British Sikh hegemonic masculinities which seek to shape the performance of masculinity, yet in another context these very same performances of masculinity may also signify a more marginalised masculinity vis a vis other dominant hegemonic forms.

The Sikh Gender Construction and Use of Agency in Spain: Negotiations and Identity (Re)Constructions in the Diaspora

“…53 This ideal has its maximum expression in the amritdharis or representatives of the khālsā. 54 Gill (2014), following Kalra (2005). pride and manhood particularly for upper-caste Sikh men 55 . Thus the maximum representatives of an honorable masculinity socio-historically constructed 56 are the keshdharis and especially the amritdharis.…”

Citizenship, religion, gender and the politics of belonging: a case study of white, middle-class christian men in the East Midlands, United Kingdom

“…Debates about masculinity are also relevant to studies of religion and citizenship. A growing literature is emerging on religious men and masculinities, including historical studies of Christianity and masculinity in Northern Europe (Werner 2011), and historical (Delap and Morgan 2013) and contemporary (Gill 2014;Aune 2010;Archer 2001) studies of men and masculinities within different religious traditions in Britain. In her study of early to mid-twentieth century middleclass Anglican men in England, Delap (2013, 137) found that 'the majority [of Anglican men's groups] were invested in reconciling masculinity with qualities of love, compassion and service, which often led to reciprocity with femininities'.…”

‘I need to be there’: British South Asian men’s experiences of care and caring

“…As Connell (1995, p.81) states '[m]arginalization is always relative to the authorization of the hegemonic masculinity of the dominant group'. This questions then how far it is possible for Asian men to aspire to or be aligned to hegemonic or normative notions of masculinity (Kalra, 2009;Gill, 2014).…”

“…Key theorists at this time, including Hall (1992), Brah (1996), and in relation to questions of masculinity; Mac an Ghaill (1994), encouraged a consideration of the performative nature of ethnicity and the ways in which ethnic identity is intersectional and experienced in and through other modalities of difference (such as race, gender, class, sexuality, McClintock, 1995). Black feminist literature, particularly looking at izzat (Wilson, 1978) was influential and developed my understanding of the gendered nature of Asian, and specifically Sikh masculinities in the plural (Gill, 2014). Now the wider frame concerning what is more broadly defined as 'Asian masculinity' creates a different socio-political context.…”