Singing Sovereignty: Sikh Diasporic Feminisms, Sonic Theologies, and Embodied Indigenous Knowledge

Music is central to Sikh devotional practice. The Sikh scripture itself is a musico-poetic text organized by raga melody and revered as the “Living Guru,” recited, performed, and sung during worship as a practice of communal remembering, spiritual gnosis, and divine union. The Sikh devotional music tradition (gurbani sangeet parampara) is part of an Indigenous knowledge system whose textuality is grounded in embodied memory and performative praxis. Drawing from over two decades of ethnographic research and participation, this paper examines the postcolonial revival and modern reform of Sikh devotional music, which became near-extinct during India’s colonization and partition. It engages narratives of musicians who have remembered and safeguarded Sikh musical knowledge while examining how colonial modernity privileged written textual authority and sidelined embodied sonic theologies. Using a decolonial approach and Sikh diasporic feminist frameworks, the paper explores how sound, embodiment, and memory challenge colonial paradigms of knowledge and authority and open possibilities for relational engagement, mutual respect, and shared sovereignties.