Sikh Studies Unit
The following are proposed panel titles for 2026. Additional panel proposals are welcomed. We especially welcome suggestions for panels to be co-sponsored with other units. The Sikh Studies unit exclusively uses the AAR PAPERS system for all submissions. Proposed panel titles are listed with contact information. If interested, please contact the listed person(s) directly:
1. The Future of Sikh Studies.
What does the future hold for Sikh Studies as an academic field? This panel invites critical reflections on emerging research agendas, methodological innovations, and institutional challenges. Topics may include the impact of digital technologies on scholarship, strategies for decolonizing Sikh Studies, and approaches to sustaining the field amid shifting academic priorities. We welcome contributions that address global collaborations, funding landscapes, and the role of Sikh Studies in public discourse. By imagining possible futures for the discipline, this session aims to foster dialogue on how Sikh Studies can remain vibrant, inclusive, and responsive to contemporary realities.
2. Sikh Ethics and Global Futures: Human Rights, Climate, and AI
This panel explores how Sikh ethical principles inform responses to pressing global challenges. We invite papers on Sikh perspectives on climate justice, sustainability, and ecological ethics; human rights advocacy and future political formations; and AI governance and data ethics through Sikh lenses. Contributions may also consider intersections between Sikh ethics and global policy debates, highlighting how Sikh thought offers resources for imagining just and equitable futures. By engaging with these urgent issues, this session positions Sikh Studies within broader conversations on ethics, technology, and planetary well-being.
3. Sikh Political Imaginaries: Sovereignty and Global Governance
This panel investigates Sikh political thought and its visions for future governance. How do concepts such as miri-piri inform debates on sovereignty, democracy, and transnational activism? Papers may address historical movements for autonomy, contemporary Sikh engagement with human rights, and the role of diaspora communities in shaping global political discourse. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches that connect Sikh political imaginaries to broader questions of justice, citizenship, and religious freedom. By situating Sikh perspectives within global governance debates, this session seeks to illuminate how religious traditions contribute to imagining futures of ethical and political possibility.
This Unit provides a forum for highlighting the most recent and innovative scholarship in the area of Sikh studies. Our work draws from a broad range of methodological and theoretical approaches — history, postcolonial theory, performance theory, popular culture, philosophy, literary criticism, gender studies, etc. — by both established scholars as well as those new to the field. Seeking a balance between critical theory and substantive content, we seek to call into question key critical terms, challenge established frames of reference, and offer innovative and alternative ways in which Sikhs, Sikhism, and Sikhi can be understood and studied in the academy.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jasjit Singh, University of Leeds | j.s.singh@leeds.ac.uk | - | View |
| Simran Jeet Singh | simranjeetsingh@gmail.com | - | View |