25 January 2024
Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 30 – Rethinking the Inclusionary Potential of Religious Institutions: the Case of Gurdwaras in Singapore by Shee Siew Ying and Orlando Woods
Abstract:
Whilst Singapore’s Sikh community is relatively small, it is also heterogeneous. Its diversity reflects differences in ancestral and socio-economic backgrounds. As spaces of worship that regularly bring together the Sikh community in space and time, Sikh temples – gurdwaras – are often conceived as important places through which a shared sense of religiously-defined community is reproduced. Yet, as much as religion can provide a bridge that integrates people of different ethnic, racial, national, and linguistic groups into a single faith community, so too can it act as a buttress through which differences and divisions are enforced within the community. We argue that whilst gurdwaras provide opportunities for transmitting Sikh principles and customs, and connecting the diaspora in Singapore with the traditions of their homeland, they can also play an important, and sometimes problematic, role in reproducing divisions and hierarchy within the Sikh community. We found that these divisions – particularly of ancestral background (tied to geographic and cultural regions of Punjab) and class – are often observed on two levels: between and within gurdwaras. By examining the complexities that gurdwaras in Singapore pose to the social integration of Sikh communities, we challenge the tendency in academic and public discourse to assume their inclusionary potential. This paper emphasises the importance of religious institutions in mitigating the incursions of exclusionary attitudes and behaviours within society, thus contributing to a more socially resilient and cohesive Singapore.
Abstract:
Whilst Singapore’s Sikh community is relatively small, it is also heterogeneous. Its diversity reflects differences in ancestral and socio-economic backgrounds. As spaces of worship that regularly bring together the Sikh community in space and time, Sikh temples – gurdwaras – are often conceived as important places through which a shared sense of religiously-defined community is reproduced. Yet, as much as religion can provide a bridge that integrates people of different ethnic, racial, national, and linguistic groups into a single faith community, so too can it act as a buttress through which differences and divisions are enforced within the community. We argue that whilst gurdwaras provide opportunities for transmitting Sikh principles and customs, and connecting the diaspora in Singapore with the traditions of their homeland, they can also play an important, and sometimes problematic, role in reproducing divisions and hierarchy within the Sikh community. We found that these divisions – particularly of ancestral background (tied to geographic and cultural regions of Punjab) and class – are often observed on two levels: between and within gurdwaras. By examining the complexities that gurdwaras in Singapore pose to the social integration of Sikh communities, we challenge the tendency in academic and public discourse to assume their inclusionary potential. This paper emphasises the importance of religious institutions in mitigating the incursions of exclusionary attitudes and behaviours within society, thus contributing to a more socially resilient and cohesive Singapore.
