Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity explores the development of modern Sikh identities through the concept of 'cultivation of culture'. It investigates diverse, but repeatedly overlapping, Sikh encounters in the fields of art, music and philology, and considers their role in the making of a continuous living tradition.
The volume focuses particularly on the imperial encounter and intellectual interaction between coloniser and colonised. It emphasises the enduring importance of the modern rational approach of the Singh Sabha (Tat Khalsa) reformers in defining a normative Sikh tradition. In so doing, the author reflects on the importance of philological research and the complexity of modern knowledge production in relation to the formation of cultural identities. The chapters offer a critical historical overview of the changes in the performance and reception of Sikh devotional music in the context of the community's successive encounters with the Mughals, the British and globalisation. They also provide new insights into the life and work of Max Arthur Macauliffe, author of the classic The Sikh Religion (1909), and a contextualised discussion of contemporary Sikh drawings by Emily de Klerk.
Taking a global, interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of religion, South Asian Studies and history.
| ISBN: | 9781032480961 |
| Publication date: | 21st May 2026 |
| Author: | Bob van der Linden |
| Publisher: | Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 174 pages |
| Series: | Routledge Critical Sikh Studies |
| Genres: |
Sikhism History of religion Music: styles and genres Regional / International studies Society and culture: general History |
Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity explores the development of modern Sikh identities through the concept of 'cultivation of culture'. It investigates diverse, but repeatedly overlapping, Sikh encounters in the fields of art, music and philology, and considers their role in the making of a continuous living tradition.
The volume focuses particularly on the imperial encounter and intellectual interaction between coloniser and colonised. It emphasises the enduring importance of the modern rational approach of the Singh Sabha (Tat Khalsa) reformers in defining a normative Sikh tradition. In so doing, the author reflects on the importance of philological research and the complexity of modern knowledge production in relation to the formation of cultural identities. The chapters offer a critical historical overview of the changes in the performance and reception of Sikh devotional music in the context of the community's successive encounters with the Mughals, the British and globalisation. They also provide new insights into the life and work of Max Arthur Macauliffe, author of the classic The Sikh Religion (1909), and a contextualised discussion of contemporary Sikh drawings by Emily de Klerk.
Taking a global, interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of religion, South Asian Studies and history.
Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity features in the following genres: Sikhism, History of religion, Music: styles and genres, Regional / International studies, Society and culture: general, History
Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity is available in Paperback, Hardback
Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity was written by Bob van der Linden and published by Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis
Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity has 174 pages
Yes it is part of Routledge Critical Sikh Studies series
£43.19