Routledge Critical Sikh Studies: Encounters Across the Disciplines

Routledge Critical Sikh Studies is an interdisciplinary book series dedicated to publishing new and innovative research on Sikh formations in the Punjabi and wider global context. Key to the approach of this series is the concept of ‘encounter’, which can be applied to Sikh Studies in two ways. First, that the term ‘Sikh’ designates a critical point of intersection with the world, and secondly, that the so-called ‘Sikh world’ has itself evolved through constant encounters: material, conceptual and spiritual. This idea of encounter is increasingly accentuated in the era of modernity, in the sense that it touches every aspect of Sikh existence and is potentially open to being studied by any discipline, or even a range of disciplines. The notion of encounter is also particularly relevant, as the Sikh lifeworld is being forced to expand beyond its comfort zones and traditional boundaries. Today’s ‘encounters’ are being registered in every field of study, including philosophical and religious encounters with other traditions of thought and practice; encounters with science, technology and media; encounters with secularism; encounters with new political and social systems, languages, literatures and groups; even intra-social encounters with new movements within the Sikh traditions. The series editors, therefore, welcome contributions that work across disciplines, allowing scholars working broadly in Sikh and Punjab Studies to explore wider theoretical debates and thematic concepts from across the Humanities and Social Sciences.