PRG meeting October 2011 – Wolfson College, University of Oxford
This meeting was kindly organised by Kaveri Qureshi and supported by Wolfson College, University of Oxford.


Adnan Rafiq, DPhil Candidate Politics, University of Oxford
‘Challenging Social Structures: A Practice-based Model for Understanding Maverick Behaviour’
Muhammad Shafique, Department of History, University College London
‘Cunningham’s Lahore 1832-1849: Cultural Homogenization of Religio-Political Heterogeneity under Sikhs’


Pritam Singh, Faculty of Business, Oxford Brookes University
‘Instrumentalist versus intrinsic worth conception of human rights: the context of India and Punjab’
Gurdeep Khabra, PhD Candidate, School of Music, University of Liverpool
‘Music and the Heritage of the Punjabi Diaspora: Narrations of Cultural Memory and Cultural Identity’

Rusi Jaspal, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham
‘The construction of ethno-religious identity among a group of second generation British Sikhs: a socio-psychological approach’


PRG Meeting June 2011 – Royal Holloway
The meeting was kindly hosted by Ali Usman Qasmi, Royal Holloway.


F. M. Bhatti, Independent Researcher
‘Sikh Pilgrims to the Punjab Pakistan: cultural change, revival and change’
Hassan Javid, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology,
London School of Economics and Political Science
‘Land and Power: The Politics of Space in the Punjab Canal Colonies, 1886-1926’


Margaret Walton-Roberts Director, International Migration Research Centre Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario
‘Transnational arbitragers: immigration brokers and new processes and patterns of India-Canada diasporic reproduction’
Virinder Kalra, Department of Sociology, University of Manchester
‘Gugga Pir as the Hybrid Norm’


Elisabetta Iob, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Royal Holloway
‘“The sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite/Nor yet doth linger”: the rise of the Muslim League in Malik Barkat Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah private correspondence’
PRG meeting October 2010 – University of Cambridge
The meeting was kindly hosted by Dr Tahir Kamran, Iqbal Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

Ajit Singh, Emeritus Professor, University of Cambridge
Inaugural speech and some reflections on Punjab development
Kaveri Qureshi, University of Sussex
‘Hopes and Disappointment: Transnational Education in Punjab’


Iqbal Chawla, currently visiting University of Southampton ‘Lord Mountbatten’s Response to the Communal Riots in the Punjab: An Overview’
Ali Usman Qasmi, Royal Holloway, University of London ‘Sacred Violence vs State Violence: A Study of the Multiple Narratives of the Punjab Disturbances of 1953’

Shyamal Kataria, Royal Holloway, University of London
‘Sikh Refugee ‘Collective Memories’ as a Source of Ethno-national Conflict: The Case of Khalistan’


PRG Meeting 26 June 2010 – Coventry University
The meeting is in collaboration with the ‘Gender, Caste and the Practices of Religious Identities’ Project funded by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme.

Tahir Kamran and Abida Kauser
Abida Kauser, Bahaud-din Zakaria University, Multan
‘Multan Under Colonial Rule (1849-1901)’

Minoti Chakravarty-Kaul
Minoti Chakravarty-Kaul, Formerly Prof. Department of Economics, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.
‘Land Tenure, The Commons and the Rural Community in Greater Punjab 1803-1947 An Institutional Analysis’

Sukhpal Singh
Sukhpal Singh, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
‘Political Economy of Institutional Mechanisms in the Indian Punjab’s Agricultural Sector: Experience and Issues’

Talvinder Gill
Talvinder Gill, University of Warwick
‘The Indian Workers Association Coventry 1938-1990: Political and Social Action’

Pandit Yashpaul and Tej Purewal

Pundit Yashpaul Former (Retd.) Head, Music Department, Panjab University, Chandigarh
‘A Journey through the Sacred and Secular Music Traditions of Punjab’
Punjabi University, Patiala hosts Punjab Research Group Meeting





A collection of distinguished scholars from the UK, USA and India were present in Patiala on December 19th, courtesy of the Sociology Department of the Punjabi University. The UK based Punjab Research Group held its bi-annual meeting for the first time in Punjab, India. As part of the Group’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations, the group of organised a number of special seminars. The first was held in Lahore in February of this year. The meeting in Patiala was attended by many of the leading international scholars of Punjab studies. Professor Gurinder Singh Mann, from the University of Santa Barbara, California, Virinder Kalra from the University of Manchester, Harjant Gill from the University of Washington and Pritpal Virdee, De Montfort University, UK were present. The main themes of the workshop spanned the historic time period from pre-colonial to present times. The aim of the seminar was to look at the Punjab as an area from an inter-disciplinary perspective. A wide range of issues were explored in depth referring to the social and cultural landscape of Punjab. A lively and informed discussion took place that was well appreciated by all the participants.
The programme had the following presentations:
‘Revisiting the Janam Sakhis’ by Gurinder Singh Mann, University of Santa Barbara, Chaired by HS Gill
‘Jangnama and Precolonial Punjabi Consciousness’ by HS Bhatti and Rabinder Powar, Punjabi University, Patiala, Chaired by Gurinder Singh Mann
‘Understanding Popular Sufi Centres in Punjab’ by Yogesh Snehi, Department of History, DAV College, Chaired by Surinder Jodhka
‘From Putt Jattan De to Munde UK De: The Transformation of Masculinities in Punjabi Cinema’ by Harjant Gill, University of Washington, Chaired by Dr Malkiat Kaur
‘Silent Narratives: Women and Partition in West Punjab’ by Pippa Virdee, De Montfort University, Chaired by Dr Birinderpal Singh
‘Mela of Daud Bandegi, Shergarh, West Punjab’ by Virinder Kalra, University of Manchester, Chaired by Dr Harvinder Bhatti
Joint Seminar PRG & Punjabi University, Patiala – 19 Dec 2009
It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Punjab Research Group in collaboration with Punjabi University, Patiala, will be organising a joint seminar on 19 December 2009. Prof. Harvinder Bhatti, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology has very kindly offered to host the event and it is a great opportunity to bring together research on Punjab. For this reason we have kept the theme of the seminar open in order to encourage wide participation and it would be good to have a mixture of young researchers, as well as established scholars. If you are interested in attending or presenting a paper please contact us as soon as possible.
Pippa Virdee: pvirdee@dmu.ac.uk
Harvinder Bhatti: hsbhatti@gmail.com
Virinder Kalra: virinder.kalra@manchester.ac.uk
PRG meeting 31 Oct 2009
Punjab Research Group meeting
VENUE: De Montfort University, Leicester, DATE: 31 October 2009
Speakers included:

Kathryn Lum, European University Institute, Florence, Italy ‘A Community at a Crossroads: A case study of the Ravidassia Sangat in Barcelona’ © Presented at the Punjab Research Group, 31 October 2009. Please do not cite without the authors permission K lum PRG paperpt
Navtej Purewal, University of Manchester ‘Articulations of Caste through Religion: Codes of Hegemony and Invisibility in West Punjab’


Meena Dhanda, (University of Wolverhampton), Dave Morland, (University of Teesside) and Steve Taylor, (Northumbria University) ‘Eastern Punjabi Dalits and Religious Conversion: A case study of Wolverhampton’ © Presented at the Punjab Research Group, 31 October 2009. Please do not cite without the authors permission PRG Leicester
Ajay Bhardwaj, Independent film/documentary maker Screening of Kitte Mil Ve Mahi (Where the twain shall meet)
Full programme and abstracts: PRG programme oct 09
PRG Meeting – 31 October 2009
The next Punjab Research Group meeting will take place on 31st October 2009 at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Speakers include:
Kathryn Lum, (European University Institute, Florence) ‘A community at a crossroads: a case study of the Ravidassia Sangat in Barcelona’
Navtej Purewal, (University of Manchester) ‘Articulations of Caste through Religion: Codes of Hegemony and Invisibility in West Punjab’
In the past few months, the issue of caste in Punjab has been making the headlines for a number of reasons. Therefore, it seems that this would be a good opportunity to discuss the issue of caste in contemporary/historical Punjab(s). If you are currently working in this area and would like to share your research findings with the PRG then please contact me. Please could you also circulate this note to anyone else you think might be interested in presenting a paper.
If you would like to attend please email me: pvirdee@dmu.ac.uk
Punjab Research Group – 25th Anniversary Seminar, GC University, Lahore
The meeting was very Kindly hosted by Dr Tahir Kamran, Chairperson, Department of History, GC University, Lahore.
28th February 2009 Venue: Fazl-i-Hussain Reading Room, GC University, Lahore
Speakers included:
Dr. Tej Purawal (University of Manchester)
Settlement of Refugees in the Sheikhupura District after Partition by Akhtar Sandhu
The Organized Left and Representative Politics in Pre-Partition Punjab by Dr. Shalini Sharma
Contextualizing Art Instruction in the Colonial Punjab by Dr. Nadeem Omar Tarar
Nawae-i-Waqt: Ideologue of Pakistani Nationalism 1940-47 by Mr. Basharat Hussain
The Portrayal of Punjab as a Cultural Entity in Punjabi Cinema by Mr. Umber Bin Ibad




PRG Meeting 25 October 2008
The PRG meeting in October was very kindly hosted by the Royal Geographical Society in London.
The Speakers included:
Kiran Kalsi, London Metropolitan University ‘Self determination – how Faith shapes and informs the business experience of an Asian woman entrepreneur’
Ruth Pearson and Anitha Sundari, University of Leeds and Linda McDowell, University of Oxford ‘The experience of Punjabi women in the West London labour market: The case of the Gate Gourmet workers’


Ilyas Chattha, University of Southampton ‘Perpetrators and Victims of Partition Violence: Case of Gujranwala’
Jasjit Singh, University of Leeds ‘Head First: Young British Sikhs, Hair and the Turban’


Other pictures from the PRG meeting:




PRG Meeting, Coventry University, 28 June 2008
Speakers included:
Kamalroop Singh, University of Birmingham and Shironmani Panth Khalsa Akali Buddha Dal Panjva Takht, ‘A discussion of the scriptures of Guru Gobind Singh in relation to Sikh history and praxis’
Pritam Singh, Oxford Brooks University, ‘Reading Guru Granth Sahib: Some Reflections’


Kamalroop Singh (left) and Pritam Singh (right)
Akhtar Sandhu, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, ‘Voices from the Rural Areas…Muslim-Sikh Relations in the Colonial Punjab, 1940-47′
Meena Dhanda, University of Wolverhampton, ‘Reflections on Caste in Personal Relations’


Akhtar Sandhu (left) and Meena Dhanda (right)
Other participants:
















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