SGPC to set up ‘censor board’ for films, books on Sikhs
Jan 26, 2015
CHANDIGARH: Films and books on Sikh religion may soon have to pass the test of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), which is planning to set up a ‘censor board’ for “moral policing” of the scripts.
The move comes against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s movie ‘MSG’ and many Bollywood movies in which actors have donned the turban like Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Son of Sardar’ and Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Singh is King’.
“We will soon set up Sikh Censor Board comprising historians and intelligentsia so that someone keen to make any film or write a book concerning Sikh religion first gets the script cleared to avoid consequences later,” Amritsar-based SGPC head Avtar Singh Makkar told this agency.
Terming it as “moral policing” on part of SGPC, Makkar said the board members will clear the script of films or books based on Sikh religion and community members.
“Our idea is that Sikh religion is projected and exhibited in public domain in consonance with the spirit of code of conduct of the community,” he said.
Please read the rest of the article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/SGPC-to-set-up-censor-board-for-films-books-on-Sikhs/articleshow/46018615.cms
Read attached PDF: SGPC Censor-TOI-1 Feb 2015
cfp: Sikh Philosophy In 21st Century: Traditions and Modernity
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College, University of Delhi is going to organize a National Seminar
On “The Sikh Philosophy In 21st Century: Traditions and Modernity” in the month of January 2015
Key Note Address: Dr. ManMohan Kaur, Principal, S.G.N.D.Khalsa College
The College invites abstracts from interdisciplinary scholars for the following sub-themes:
• Industrialisation
• Economic Development
• Education
• Migration
• Traditions of Martyrdom in the Sikh Culture
• Sikh Kingdom and its implications in contemporary times
• Relevance of teachings of Guru Granth Sahib in Contemporary times
Plenary Session:
Enlightenment, Rationality and Modernity Among the Sikhs in 21st Century
Speaker: Dr. Indrajeet Singh, Department of Political Science, S.G.N.D.Khalsa College, Dev Nagar, University of Delhi
You are requested to send the abstracts to adsbindra@gmail.com or indrajeet69@gmail.com latest by 6th November, 2014.
Convener: Dr. Amardeep Singh Bindra
WILLIAM OWEN COLE 1931-2013
For many students and teachers of religious education the name of Dr Owen Cole, who died on Saturday 26 October, immediately signals the study of Sikhism. Owen Cole, a historian by training, from a non-conformist Christian family, was a distinguished, pioneering religious educationist. From his friendships with people of different faiths grew a staunch commitment to the transformation of religious education from instruction primarily in the Christian faith to a subject that would develop an understanding and appreciation of world faiths. Sikhs became part of Owen Cole’s life when he moved to Leeds for a lectureship in 1968. In 1969 Owen and other educationists founded the influential Shap Working Party on World Religions in Education. His commitment to multi-faith religious education and his close friendship with Piara Singh Sambhi led to many single-authored and joint publications for schools on the Sikh tradition, as well as substantial works including The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices and Sikhism and Christianity A Comparative Study. Owen Cole firmly described himself as a ‘populariser rather than a scholar’, yet his role in furthering an informed understanding of Sikh tradition is incalculable. For many years he co-edited the annual Sikh Bulletin. Archbishop Runcie appointed Owen Cole as his interfaith consultant. Owen also ensured that a rendering (by Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh) of passages of the Guru Granth Sahib was included in the Sacred Literature Trust Series. The teaching of the Sikh Gurus provided an inspiration for Owen Cole’s lifelong commitment to truth and justice.
By Professor Eleanor Nesbitt, University of Warwick
British Sikh Report 2013 – A Review
In the summer of 2013, the first ever British Sikh Report was published using both the 2011 national census in England and Wales and an organic survey that attracted over 600 respondents – one of the most significant of its kind. Here a PRG website contributor offers their review as the annualised exercise begins for the next version in 2014. Please click on the link below for the review article.
This post’s author can be contacted on: gorby.jandu@gmail.com
The Sikh Turban: Exploring An Icon Of A Migratory Peoples’ Identity
Research Consultation: Anthropological Collection on Sikh Turbans
The Horniman Museum, London
Kind assistance is requested with researching a collection displaying the dastar as part of Sikhs’ global migration. The collection has three aspirations; to firstly display the pagh’s physical variation as geographically dichotomous and freighting a regionally intrinsic identity trope for instance Makhan Singh as a kalasingha wearing a Kenyan kilemba. Secondly to consider the pagh and its contentious role in Sikh identity within the milieu of other head-coverings e.g. Mitres in Europe during The Middle Ages. Thirdly to reflect on the pagh in Sikh-Britain relationships e.g. Winterhalter’s 1854 portrait of Duleep Singh or turbaned Sikhs as stock British Armed Forces’ media images. Thoughts on the collection mode and process are especially welcomed. The Horniman Museum Collections can be explored at www.horniman.ac.uk, whilst the researchers can be reached on gorby.jandu@gmail.com and JZetterstrom-Sharp@horniman.ac.uk. The collection is due to gain exhibition in 2014 with displays finalised by end 2013.
Beyond Belief ‘Women in Sikhism’
You can still listen to this discussion on the BBC Radio 4 was aired on Monday 14 January at 16.30 (GMT).
The fundamental message of Sikhism appears to be simple; God is one and all people are equal. But are some more equal than others? If the Sikh scriptures are consistent with a feminist agenda, why do some Sikh women feel that they are second class citizens?
Joining Ernie to discuss the position of women within the Sikh tradition are Navtej Purewal, Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Manchester University; Eleanor Nesbitt, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education in the University of Warwick; and Nicky Guninder Kaur Singh, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Colby College Waterville Maine in the USA
Here’s a link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ptgfy
Unthreatening the Sikh Turban – Reflections of Wisconsin Shootings
Unthreatening the Sikh Turban – Reflections on Wisconsin Shootings by Harjant S. Gill
[W]e must discourage the use of mistaken identity narrative because to an extremist like…the gunman who carried out the Wisconsin shooting, it matters little if his victims are Sikhs or Muslims. We must denounce all acts of violence against any religious groups. More importantly, we must also hold our politicians,policy makers, political pundits and ourselves responsible for creating a climate of hostility and hate… read more: Anthropology-News.org
CFP: Sikhi(sm), Literature and Film
Sikh Studies Conference. Department of Religion, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, Fall 2012, October 19-21st
Sponsored by the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies
Sikhi(sm), Literature and Film
Hofstra University and the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies are excited to announce a conference on the literary and visual cultures within, or pertaining to, Sikh traditions both in Panjabi and Diasporic contexts. The conference is designed to be explorative and is therefore open to any and all submissions within these two fields. This conference aims to chart new territory by exploring the aesthetic and expressive traditions within Sikh(ism).
Literary Cultures
Proposals are welcomed within the area of literature broadly defined, including: romance (kissaa), ballad (of war/strife, vaar), lyric (revelation), hagiography and biography (Janamsaakhiis), didactic and devotional (revelation, commentarial), revival and reform (political, nationalist, moral/didactic tracts), fiction and short story, poetry and new poetry, prose, drama and play.
Visual Cultures
Proposals are welcomed within the area of film or visual culture broadly defined including: Cinema/Film (Bollywood, Hollywood, Lollywood and Independent productions, Internet websites, YouTube, Vimeo, Music video-Rap, Bhangra), TV (terrestrial and satellite stations), Comic (Amar Chitra Katha, Sikhtoons), Fine Arts (miniature paintings, court paintings, modern art, photography, contemporary art), Commerical Art (calendar art, lithographs), Fashion and Advertising (e.g. Sonny Caberwal ,Vikram Chatwal, Waris Ahluwalia), Museum Exhibitions (V&A, Rubin Museum, Smithsonian etc), Architecture (monumental, temple and residential).
Deadlines
Paper proposals May 1st, 2012 300 words
Final Papers September 1st, 2012 5-8,000 words
Please send proposals to: balbinder.bhogal@hofstra.edu
Roots of Love
Told through the stories of six different men ranging in age from fourteen to eighty-six, Roots of Love documents the changing significance of hair and the turban among Sikhs in India. We see younger Sikh men abandoning their hair and turban to follow the current fashion trends, while the older generation struggles to retain the visible symbols of their religious and cultural identity.
“Beautifully conceived and shot…Pleasure to watch… A compassionate portrait of a community in transition…”
— Safina Uberoi, filmmaker and director of My Mother India and A Good Man
Awards: “Best Student Film” – 2011 Society for Visual Anthropology
ORDER NOW! for your university and academic institutions.
More Info: www.TilotamaProductions.com
Disclaimer: All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.
Looking for Participants for PSBT TV Documentary on the topic of Hair/Sikh Faith/Punjabi Culture
We are looking for historians, academics and researchers based in or around Punjab to discuss the topic of hair, Sikh Faith and Punjabi Culture. Diverse views and opinions are welcomed. Roots (working title) is a short documentary commissioned by PSBT for Doordarshan TV channel.
To participate please contact director Harjant S. Gill: Harjant@gmail.com, 91-9878318348
Filming will take place in and around Chandigarh next month (July).
Waiting for Spring by Nirupama Dutt
The emergence of a Dalit identity in East Punjab is a recent development, spurred in part by the failure of Sikhism to abandon caste discrimination as it initially averred to do.
For us trees do not bear fruits
For us flowers do not bloom
For us there is no Spring
For us there is no Revolution …
– Lal Singh Dil –
These are lines from the last poem of Lal Singh Dil, hailed as the foremost revolutionary poet of Punjab. He passed away in 2007. The despondent note of the poem is both surprising and telling, for a poet who had once declared that the song and dance in his heart would not die, no matter how dire the circumstance. It took Dil a lifetime to discover this sad yet provocative truth, against the backdrop of the complexities of caste in Punjab. Yet centuries before Dil’s birth, the same frustration with caste was intricately linked to the emergence of the Sikh religion.
Read full article: Waiting for Spring. Punjabi Dalit Poets. Nirupama Dutt. Apr 10
Punjab Research Group 
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