Table Of ContentMICHAEL NIJHAWAN
THE PRECARIOUS
DIASPORAS OF SIKH
AND AHMADIYYA
GENERATIONS
VIOLENCE, MEMORY, AND AGENCY
Religion and Global Migrations
Series Editors
Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh
Oxford Department of International Development
Oxford , U nited Kingdom
Jennifer B. Saunders
Stamford , Connecticut, U SA
Susanna Snyder
Rippon College Oxford , UK
Aims of the Series
As the fi rst series of its kind, Religion and Global Migrations will examine
the phenomenon of religion and migration from multiple disciplinary per-
spectives (e.g., historical, anthropological, sociological, ethical, and theo-
logical), in various global locations (including the Americas, Europe, and
Asia), and from a range of religious traditions. Monographs and edited
volumes in the series explore the intersections of religion and migration
from a variety of approaches, including studies of shifting religious prac-
tices and ideas in sending and receiving communities, among migrants
and also among those who interact with migrants in places of origin and
destination; public responses to migration such as religiously informed
debates, policies, and activism among migrants and nonmigrants alike;
gender dynamics including shifts in gender roles and access to power in
sending and receiving sites; identity in relation to religion and migration
that include constructive, as well as descriptive, scholarship; empire, from
the ancient Mediterranean through the height of European colonization
to contemporary relationships between the developing and developed
world, and the way it has profoundly affected the movement of people
and development of religions; and other topics connecting to the theme
of religion and global migrations.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14511
Michael N ijhawan
The Precarious
Diasporas of Sikh and
Ahmadiyya
Generations
Violence, Memory, and Agency
Michael Nijhawan
Department of Sociology
York University
Toronto, ON, C anada
Religion and Global Migrations
ISBN 978-1-137-49959-2 ISBN 978-1-137-48854-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-48854-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016948743
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To Mayur
A N T
OTE ON RANSLATION AND
T
RANSLITERATION
Interviews for this research have been conducted in English, German, and
Punjabi. Whenever warranted, I have retained the original expressions in
parenthesis and hope my translations are accurate enough to convey the
meaning and tone of words used by my interlocutors. There is frequent
reference to cultural and religious concepts that are unique to the South
Asian context. These include terms from the Sikh scriptures ( gurbani )
and some references to Ahmadiyya religious sermons and tracts that are
in Urdu. Instead of using a glossary, I provide the corresponding English
expression whenever they fi rst appear. I have made selective use of foot-
notes to expand further on some words to clarify their contextual uses and
meanings. For the purpose of this book, I have refrained from using any
diacritical markers in my transcriptions. I am aware that this simplifi cation
misses out on nuances in nasalization and other specifi c linguistic features
of especially Punjabi and Urdu words. I have made this concession to
provide a more simplifi ed system at the expense of philological scrutiny.
vii
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research and writing of this book evolved over a ten-year period in
which I was fortunate enough to make friends and have fostered long-term
relationships with many of my interlocutors and collaborators in Frankfurt
and Toronto. I would have utterly failed in this endeavor without their
generosity: my research participants’ willingness to share their personal
stories, the help of my research assistants who have worked tirelessly, the
support of my friends who reached out and built bridges across terrains,
oceans, times. Sharing their stories and insights, which are assembled in
this book, is both a blessing and a burden. I am well aware that of all the
words, feelings, and thoughts, only fragments can eventually resurface in
these written pages. My labor has been to do justice to the truths of their
stories. My fi rst lines of appreciation are to all of them who lent their
voices to this project. They cannot be named in person here. I have used
pseudonyms throughout the text to ensure their confi dentiality.
Among my collaborators who contributed to the research process, I
am indebted to Khuswhant Singh in Frankfurt for his continuing support
and friendship. I thank Kamal Arora and Duygu Gül for their research
assistantship, collaborative writing, and general support at all stages of the
research in Toronto. Harjot Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Bernd Wagishauser,
Dr. Aslam Daud, Hamid Chaudhury and family, Horst Schäfer, Dr. Günter
Kruchen, Christian Borschberg, Hadayatullah Hübsch (1946–2011), Abid
Mirza, Gurpreet Singh Deepak, Jasbir Kaur, Jaspreet Multani, Loveleen
Kang, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Ali, Manfred Backhausen, Preet
Virdi, Naseer Ahmad, Waqas Taimoor, and Salma Ahmed have all gener-
ously offered their help in facilitating my research and deserve a special
ix
Description:This book examines the long-term effects of violence on the everyday cultural and religious practices of a younger generation of Ahmadis and Sikhs in Frankfurt, Germany and Toronto, Canada. Comparative in scope and the first to discuss contemporary articulations of Sikh and Ahmadiyya identities with
