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Associate Professor and S.C.S.B Endowed Professor of Sikh Studies

• Affiliation(s)

  • Asian Languages & Cultures
  • Center for South Asian Studies

• About

  Research Interests

  Though grounded in the study of Sikhism and South Asian religions, my research is located at the intersections of various disciplines such as: Modern European Philosophy and Comparative Philosophy; Postcoloniality; Colonial History of India; Postcolonial theory; Critical Theories of Religion and the Secular; Hermeneutics; Mysticism and Self-Transformation and its relationship to Ethics in the South Asian context; 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. Currently I am working on two further book projects. The first, Self-Transformations: Between Sikhism and Western Thought  (delivered as the Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion, SOAS, 2009) explores key categories of Sikh thought and praxis and allows me to return to my intellectual roots which are in comparative philosophy and religion. The second Mourning Sovereignty, looks at various Sikh discourses in relation to public space. I am also working on a co-authored book on Sikh ethics. I am interested in supervising graduate students in all aspects of Sikh Studies, particularly those students who combine solid empirical work with an openness to questioning the categories and frameworks within which scholarship is produced.

  Recent Publications

  • Secularism and Religion-Making, Oxford University Press,  (with Markus Dressler), 2011
    http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/CulturalStudies/?view=usa&ci=9780199782925
  • Religion and the Specter of the West: Sikhism, India, Postcoloniality and the Politics of Translation, Columbia University Press, 2009. 
    http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14724-8/religion-and-the-specter-of-the-west
  • Teachings of the Sikh Gurus: Selections From Sikh Scripture (co-authored with Christopher Shackle), Routledge, 2005. 
    http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415266048/
  • Sikh Culture, Religion and Ethnicity, (with Christopher Shackle and Gurharpal Singh), Curzon
    http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Culture-Ethnicity-Arvind-Pal-Mandair/dp/0700713891
  • “Dis-Locations: Language, Autobiography and Identity in Dialogue With Jacques Derrida” (with Pal Ahluwalia), journal special issue, in Social Identities: Journal For the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, Vol. 13, No. 3 May 2007.
  • “Dialogue as the Inscription of ‘the West’”, journal special issue published in Social Identities: Journal For the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2005.

  Journals

  • Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture and Theory (founding co-editor)
    http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17448727.asp
  • Culture and Religion  (North American Editor)
    http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rcar
  • Religions of South Asia  (Editorial Board Member)
    http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ROSA/about/editorialTeam

  Courses Taught
  Undergraduate Courses

  • Religion and Violence in a Secular World (Asian 305)
  • Warrior Saints: Military Religious Orders of the World (Asian 303)
  • What is Religion? (AS 306)
  • Theorizing Postcoloniality (Asian 381)
  • Ethics: Asian and Western (forthcoming, AS 229)

  Graduate Courses

  • Secularism and Religion-Making ((forthcoming)
  • Indian Religions and Western Thought (Asian 400)
  • Sikhism and Modernity (ASIAN 480)
  • Philosophy of the Sikh Gurus (Asian 430)

  Literature, Language and Teachings of the Sikh Scriptures (Gurbani Vichar) graduate level independent study only.

• Education

  • M.A., Ph.D., (Philosophy/Sikh Studies)University of Warwick, UK, 1999
  • B.Sc, Ph.D. (Chemistry), Aston University, UK, 1989