Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh

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Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh
Born
India
ParentHarbans Singh (father)
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplineReligious studies
InstitutionsColby College
Main interestsGender in Sikhism

Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, also known as Nikky Singh, is an Indian-born American scholar in Sikhism, and professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, USA.

Singh joined Colby in 1986. She translates Sikh religious works into English and examines gender in Sikhism. Her books include The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent (1993), The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus (1995), Sikhism: An Introduction (2011), The First Sikh: The Life and Legacy of Guru Nanak (2019), and Janamsakhi: Paintings of Guru Nanak in Early Sikh Art (2023).

A day, 26 March, in the city of Fresno, California, is named for her.

Early life and education[edit]

Nikky Singh was born in India, to Harbans Singh, professor of religious studies at Punjabi University.[1] She attended Stuart Hall School, a girls’ preparatory school in Virginia, in the United States.[2][3] Subsequently she gained a place at Wellesley College, from where she received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religion in 1978.[1][4] There, her thesis was on "Physics and Metaphysics of Sikh scripture".[5] She received her master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982, and her PhD from Temple University in 1987.[1][4]

Career[edit]

Singh joined Colby College in Waterville, Maine, in 1986.[1] She translates Sikh religious works into English, examines gender in Sikhism, and focuses on poetics.[6][7][8] British scholar of Sikhism, Eleanor M. Nesbitt, notes that while modern day scholars tend to avoid using the terms "his", "he", and him", Singh's English translations of the Guru Granth Sahib also uses gender neutral terms such as “Sovereign” as an alternative to the more traditional “God” and “Lord”.[9] Singh questions academics who have not asked about the women within the lives of the Gurus, and is one of several scholars that argue that Guru Nanak was a social reformer who spoke out against the caste system, the status of Indian women and superstition in religion.[10]

In The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent (1993), Singh's first book, she sees value in women in Sikhism as reflected in feminine words such as Bani.[11][12] In the same work she analysed the "mother" image depicted in Sikh writings, and described bridal jewellery as being empowering to women.[13][11] In 1995, she published The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus.[14] Along with her first book, Doris R. Jakobsh describes Singh's 2005 book titled The Birth of the Khalsa: A Feminist Re-Memory of Sikh Identity , as "groundbreaking"..."flinging open wide the doors to feminist approaches".[15] According to Singh, Guru Nanak was "the first feminist", whose understanding of equality for women was innovative for that time, and generations of Sikhs have not given women the equality that the Gurus preached.[11][16][17]

Her Sikhism: An Introduction was published in 2011.[18] In her essay "Revising the Divine", Singh questions male-dominated historical interpretations of Sikhism, and makes plain that the mother image is the "source of creation and wisdom", and bringing that notion to the forefront when examining holy scriptures is one forward development to counteracting what she sees as male prejudice against women in Sikh communities.[19] Singh disagrees with the view that the name "Kaur" came about during British rule in India.[20] She traces the name to Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the ten Gurus.[20]

In Janamsakhi: Paintings of Guru Nanak in Early Sikh Art (2023), Singh looks at the B40 Janamsakhi, part of the small surviving collection of early Janamsakhis.[21] In the work she highlights how early Sikh images show Guru Nanak within a range of depictions.[22]

Awards and honors[edit]

In 2022, the city of Fresno, California, honored Singh by naming 26 March as "Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh Day."[23] She was awarded a fellowship from the Department of Historical Studies of Punjabi University, Patiala.[3]

Selected publications[edit]

Articles[edit]

  • "The Myth of the Founder: The Janamsākhīs and Sikh Tradition". History of Religions. 31 (4): 329–343. 1992. doi:10.1086/463291. ISSN 0018-2710. JSTOR 1062798. S2CID 161226516.
  • "The Sikh Bridal Symbol: An Epiphany of Interconnections". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 8 (2): 41–64. 1992. ISSN 8755-4178. JSTOR 25002180.
  • "Why Did I Not Light the Fire? The Refeminization of Ritual in Sikhism". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 16 (1): 63–85. 2000. ISSN 8755-4178. JSTOR 25002376.
  • "Sacred Fabric and Sacred Stitches: The Underwear of the Khalsa". History of Religions. 43 (4): 284–302. 2004. doi:10.1086/426737. ISSN 0018-2710. JSTOR 10.1086/426737. S2CID 224807538.
  • "Re-Imagining the Divine in Sikhism". Feminist Theology. 16 (3): 332–349. May 2008. doi:10.1177/0966735008091398. ISSN 0966-7350. S2CID 220710438.

Books[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Flesh and Spirit". www.news.colby.edu. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Dr. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh - Canada-India Centre". carleton.ca. Canada-India Centre. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Prof. Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh ~ Fellowship Awarded". SikhNet. 18 March 2016. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Nikky Singh". www.colby.edu. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Faculty Research Spotlight: Professor Nikky Singh's The First Sikh". www.cah.colby.edu. Colby. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  6. ^ Repstad, Pål; Furseth, Inger (2013). "11. Religion and gender". An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-7546-5653-1.
  7. ^ Majhail, Harjinder Singh (September 2022). The construction of complex and dynamic Sikh identity in contemporary fiction in English (PDF). University of Derby.
  8. ^ Mandair, Arvind-Pal S.; Shackle, Christopher; Singh, Gurharpal (2013). "Contributors". Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. viii. ISBN 978-0-700-71389-9.
  9. ^ Nesbitt, Eleanor M. (2016). "7. Attitudes to caste, gender, and other faiths". Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 103–105. ISBN 978-0-19-874557-0.
  10. ^ Ruprai, Sharanpal Kaur (August 2013). Being Sikh, Being Women: Negotiating Religion and Gender in South Asian Women's Cultural Productions (PDF). Toronto: York University. Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of graduate studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy
  11. ^ a b c Jhutti Johal, Jagbir (2011). "2. Sikhism and women". Sikhism Today. London: A&C Black. pp. 41–45. ISBN 978-1-84706-272-7.
  12. ^ Axel, Brian Keith (2001). "Introduction. Promise and threat". The Nation's Tortured Body: Violence, Representation, and the Formation of a Sikh "diaspora". Duke University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-8223-2615-1.
  13. ^ Clary, Randi Lynn. "'Sikhing' a husband: Bridal imagery and gender in Sikh scripture." (2003) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/17645, p. 58
  14. ^ Warne, Nathaniel A. (2016). Emotions and Religious Dynamics. Routledge. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-317-14455-7.
  15. ^ Jakobsh, Doris R. (2021). "1. Introduction to the special issue; exploring gender and Sikh traditions". In Jakobsh, Doris R. (ed.). Exploring Gender and Sikh Traditions. Basil: MDPI. ISBN 978-3-0365-1190-0.
  16. ^ Fenech, Louis E. (2014). "2. The evolution of the Sikh community". In Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-19-969930-8.
  17. ^ Mann, J. S. (2015). Review Of Doris R. Jakobsh 'Relocating Gender In Sikh History'. University of British Columbia. pp. 4–6.
  18. ^ Thursby, Gene R. (2013). "Review of Sikhism: An Introduction". International Journal of Hindu Studies. 17 (1): 120–123. ISSN 1022-4556. JSTOR 24713573.
  19. ^ Hunt, Stephen (2017). "Preface". Religions of the East. Routledge. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-351-90475-9.
  20. ^ a b Singh, Jaspal Kaur (November 2019). "Negotiating Ambivalent Gender Spaces for Collective and Individual Empowerment: Sikh Women's Life Writing in the Diaspora". Religions. 10 (11): 598. doi:10.3390/rel10110598. ISSN 2077-1444.
  21. ^ "Nikky-Guninder Kur's 'Janamsakhi' gives a peek into rich Sikh art". The Tribune. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  22. ^ Boivin, Michel (2024). "4. Khwaja Khizr in iconographic translation: the changing visual idiom of a complex figure from South Asia". In Boivin, Michel; Pénicaud, Manoël (eds.). Inter-religious Practices and Saint Veneration in the Muslim World: Khidr/Khizr from the Middle East to South Asia. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-032-47864-7.
  23. ^ "California city honors Waterville resident, Colby professor". Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
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