Michael Nijhawan

Professor Nijhawan’s research interests are interdisciplinary, combining methodologies and theories drawn from social and cultural anthropology, history, sociology, cultural studies and the study of religion. He has conducted extensive ethnographic research on Sikh religious formations in India and Europe. His most recent work focuses on religious transnationalism and diaspora formation. He is also co-editing a book on “Suffering in Arts” and has ventured into documentary filmmaking. He currently holds a fellowship at the Max Weber Kolleg for Advanced Social Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany (January to April 2013)

Area of Specialization

Cultural Sociology, Social Anthropology, South Asian Studies

Research Interests:

Violence and Suffering; Religion and Secularism; Transnationalism and the State; Diaspora Youth; Cultural Performance, Art and Music; Sikhism; Punjab; Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at

Current Research Projects

• Predicaments of a "Post-Conflict Generation": A Comparative Study of Sikh and Ahmadiyya Diaspora Formations

  Description: 
  This research project aims at methodological and theoretical innovation in the scholarship on transnational religious practices and diaspora formation. The project examines how, over the last three decades, experiences and memories of violence have affected contemporary social relations and religious practices of Sikh and Ahmadi youth in Germany and Canada. This project places a strong emphasis on the current situation and self understanding of a younger generation of Canadian-born and German-born Sikhs and Ahmadis, who are an active part of cultural reorientations and social change. As a "post-conflict" generation (those born after the violent upheavals of the 1980s), this generation is intimately tied to representations and family narratives of violence and trauma and yet in many ways active in overcoming the legacy of these events. On the basis of a qualitative research design with several clusters of individuals from both communities in two diasporic locations (the Frankfurt/Main region and the Greater Toronto Area), this research will allow us to better understand the role of this younger generation against the background of both nationally specific contexts of socialization and the transnational practices and forms of affiliation which bridge this divide.

  Project Type: Funded
  Role: Principal Supervisor

  Start Date:  Month: Apr  Year: 2010
  End Date:  Month: Mar  Year: 2013

Selected Publications

Precarious Presences, Hallucinatory Times: Configurations of Religions Otherness in German Leitkulturalist Discourse. In: Markus Dressler & Arvind Mandair (eds.), Secularism and Religion-Making. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 243-68.

“Today, We are all Ahmadi.” Configurations of Heretic Otherness between Lahore and Berlin. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 37(3): 429-447

Shared Idioms, Sacred Symbols, and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia. Co-edited with K. Pemberton. London & New York: Routledge, 2009.

Dhadi Darbar. Religion, Violence, and the Performance of Sikh History. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Musafer. - Sikhi is Travelling. Documentary Film, co-dir. K. Singh.

All Publications

Books

Shared Idioms, Sacred Symbols, and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia. Co-edited with K. Pemberton. London & New York: Routledge, 2009.

Dhadi Darbar. Religion, Violence, and the Performance of Sikh History. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Book Chapters

Precarious Presences, Hallucinatory Times: Configurations of Religions Otherness in German Leitkulturalist Discourse. In: Markus Dressler & Arvind Mandair (eds.), Secularism and Religion-Making. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 243-68.

Memory, Genre, Voice: The Partition Motif in a Punjabi Performative Genre. In Smita Jassal & Eyal Ben-Ari (eds.), The Partition Motif in Contemporary Conflicts: Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan, Germany East-West. London: Sage Publications, 2007.

Journal Articles

Sikhism, Traumatic Repetition, and the Question of Aesthetic Sovereignty Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 23(2) (2011): 128-142

“Today, We are all Ahmadi.” Configurations of Heretic Otherness between Lahore and Berlin. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 37(3): 429-447

Editorial: Religion, Politics and the Inner Space of Translation. Sikh Formations 3(1) (2007): 1-11

Cultural, Linguistic and Political Translations: Dhadi Urban Music. Co-authored with V. Kalra. Sikh Formations 3(1) (2007): 67-80

Deportability, Medicine, and the Law. Anthropology and Medicine 12(3) (2005): 271-86.

Creative Works

Musafer. - Sikhi is Travelling. Documentary Film, co-dir. K. Singh.

Teaching:

Approach To Teaching

In my understanding, teaching begins with the creation of an active learning environment in the classroom that is conducive to the development of academic skills and that fosters processes of learning through social interaction. Teaching has never unfolded in a social and political vacuum, particularly not in sociology. I am committed to a critical school of social theory in which learning in the classroom is oriented towards societal change and the intellectual and ethical flourishing of the person. Whatever course material I teach – be it on the undergraduate or graduate level – has components that speak directly to global societal issues that are salient to our times. As a sociologist and anthropologist, I am specifically sensitive to the diversity of thought and knowledge and so try to actively push students to step outside of their taken-for-granted frames of seeing the world.

I have recently been awarded the 2011-12 John O'Neill Award for Excellence in Teaching (SUSA).Thanks to all of you for nominating me and honoring my work with this award!

Upcoming Courses

Term	Course Number	Section	Title	Type
Fall/Winter 2013-2014	AP/SOCI3430 6.0	A	Ethnicity, Power and Identity	LECT
Fall/Winter 2013-2014	AP/SOCI4230 6.0	B	Sociology of Cultures and Ethnic Identities	SEMR