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Tragic evens of 1984 crystallized the concept of Sikh Diaspora: US scholar
February 12, 2014 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau
Patiala, Punjab (February 12, 2014): According to certain media reports a US-based scholar has stated that Sikh diaspora began identifying themselves more with their community (the Sikhs) rather than region and country after the tragic events of November 1984 in India that resulted in killing of thousands of Sikhs following the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
As per inforamtion Prof. Verne A. Dusnerbary, who has been working on Sikh diapsora since 1970s, said on the sidelines of a conference in Punjabi University, Patiala few days back that such was the impact of “suffering and dishonour” due to incidents of 1984 on Sikhs residing abroad that it transformed widely-spread Punjabi expatriates into Punjabi Sikhs.
A view of Sikh gathering at June 1984 remembrance march (9 June 2013) [File Photo]
Dusnerbary, Professor of Anthology, University of Hamline, US, who is studying dynamics of Sikh diapsora, said, “Sikhs around the world come together because of the trauma of 1984. Before 1984, Sikhs residing in foreign countries did prefer to identify themselves as part of Punjabi, Indian or South Asian diaspora. But the traumatic events of 1984 helped crystallization of the notion of Sikh diaspora among them. Sikhs residing abroad had begun identifying themselves first as Sikhs and then as Punjabis, Indians or South Asians.”
The professor said, “The 1984 incidents had gelled the notion that they have something in common as Sikhs and brought them together around their feelings, appearance, suffering and dishonour. Before 1984 people (Sikhs) identified themselves in various ways. However, the crisis after 1984 had made them to assert as Sikhs,” Prof Dusnerbary reportedly told Times of India (TOI) in reference to June 1984 attack on Harmandar Sahib and killings of Sikhs in Delhi in November 1984.
As per inforamtion Prof Dusnerbary was at Patiala to attend the three-day 2nd Punjabi Diaspora Conference organized by the Punjabi University’s department of Punjabi.
Prof. Dusnerbary, whose doctoral dissertation is on “Relationship between Punjabi Sikhs and Gore (English) Sikhs,” has written two books on Sikhs ‘Sikhs at Large: Religion, Culture and Politics in Global Perspective’ and ‘Sikh Diaspora Philanthropy in Punjab: Global Giving for Local Things.’
He, however, said that the current moot point was to study that whether 30 years after the 1984 incidents the notion of Punjabi diaspora was again overshadowing the feeling of Sikh diaspora. “Now 30 years later, the question is that is it still the way in which people are identifying themselves or they are now beginning to identify with the Punjabi Diapsora? Whether they feel that spirit of Punjabi language, common literature and films unite them,” he said.
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