Date: Wednesday 26 June 2013
Time: 6.45pm – 8.45pm (GMT+1)

 

IHRC will be hosting the launch for author and lecturer Katy P. Sian’s book,  Unsettling Sikh and Muslim Conflict.  The book take a critical view of the relationship between the two communities, mistaken identities, forced conversions and post colonial formations. 

The discussion will centre on Katy’s book and how minority communities have adopted colonial narratives.  She argues that relations among minorities are articulated and rearticulated through dominant frameworks that perpetuate racism, and that in this case simultaneously invite/require Sikhs to align themselves to Islamophobic imaginings of the nation. This book compels readers to re-think how we understand Sikh identity, the political nature of Sikh-Muslim relations, and the possibilities of decolonization.  It is an opportunity for anyone that is interested in understanding the relationship between these two communities and the sometimes hostile viewpoint that they adopt. 

Sian will provide a critical investigation into Sikh and Muslim conflict in the postcolonial setting, drawing upon historical examples of such conflict to explore the way in which the past has been mobilized to tell a story about the future of Sikhs.  Her book uses critical race theory to understand the performance of postcolonial subjectivity in the heart of the metropolis.

 

Katy P. Sian is a lecturer in sociology at The University of Manchester. She takes a key interest in debates surrounding racism and ethnicity studies, sociology, Sikh studies, Islamophobia, Postcolonialism, Diaspora and South Asian identity.

 

The discussion will be followed by a question and answer session.