Associate Professor of Sikh Studies
About
On Leave Winter 2020
Current research interests:
Though grounded in the study of Sikhism and South Asian religion/philosophy, my research interests are located at the intersections of various disciplines such as: Continental and Global Philosophies; Postcolonial theory; Theories of Religion, Violence and the Secular; Political Theory; Cross Cultural Encounter and Translation theory and practice. My first monograph Religion and the Specter of the West (2009) looked at the colonial and postcolonial encounter between India and the West, specifically through the lens of Sikhism. Other book publications include: Sikhism: A Guide For the Perplexed (Bloomsbury Press, 2013); Teachings of the Sikh Gurus: Selections From Sikh Scripture (with Christopher Shackle – Routledge, 2005); Secularism and Religion-Making (Oxford University Press, 2011 with Markus Dressler).
Current projects:
I’m currently working on several book projects including: (i) Untimely Encounters (initially delivered as the Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion, SOAS, 2009), which looks at new ways of thinking about conceptual encounter between Indian and Western traditions, specifically focusing on the engagement between key categories of Sikh thought and praxis in related to Western thought; (ii) Mourning Sovereignties combines political theory with critical religion analysis to look at various Sikh discourses in relation to public space and moves in directions that were signaled in my earlier work. I also supervise a number of graduate students working at the intersections of Sikh studies, Religious Studies and Cultural Theory.
For details about my research, teaching, publications and outreach please visit the personal website on this page.
