Dear Colleagues,

This Special issue will publish articles on "Exploring Gender and Sikh traditions.”  It begins with the premise that gender is a construct, thus, fluid and constantly in flux. So too is the Sikh tradition, which, while often presented as homogenous, is practiced and thus also constructed in a variety of ways, both historically and today.

While this issue focuses on Sikh religious traditions, a variety of approaches, including education, literature and media studies, sociology, political science, anthropology, musicology, history, gender and women’s studies, among others, will be utilized to seek an answer to the question:  How has gender been constructed within Sikh traditions, or, how is gender being constructed within contemporary Sikhisms. 

In this special issue we offer the opportunity to move beyond traditional, and, historically primary foci of the study of Sikhism, namely, textual/scriptural study, philosophy and theology, and turn instead to what is vastly understudied and often misunderstood – that which is often identified as ‘lived religion’.  This includes the everyday practices, narratives, activities and performances of ‘being’ Sikh, particularly as these pertain to gender construction.   As Hall has suggested, while traditional approaches to the study of religion continue to be vital modes of inquiry “we owe a questioning of boundaries, a sympathy for the extra-ecclesial, and a recognition of the laity as actors in their own right.”  Alongside a more fluid understanding of that which is religious, “tensions, the ongoing struggle of definition” come to the fore. Practice, in its varied manifestations, “always bears the marks of both regulation and what, for want of a better word, we may term resistance. It is not wholly one or the other” (Hall, 1997, pp. viii-ix).    With the expansion of religious boundaries, as they have traditionally been defined, we highlight innovation in the study of Sikhism – but here – with an additional focus on gender construction.    

This issue invites novel, fresh approaches from emerging scholars, but also includes those who have already made significant contributions to the study of Sikh traditions, women and gender studies.

Prof. Dr. Doris R. Jakobsh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• gender
• Sikhism and Sikhs
• gender construction
• femininities
• masculinities
• religious boundaries