(Un)mapping the Punjab onto Singapore's Gurdwaras: Diasporic territorialities and decolonial spaces of Sikh socialisation

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-2025

Abstract

This paper explores an alternative territorial sensibility – ‘diasporic territoriality’ – that is rooted in the search for belonging outside of a putative ‘homeland’ amongst dis/placed communities. Drawing on ethnographic research with 26 members of Singapore’s Sikh diaspora, we examine the everyday spaces of diasporic belonging that simultaneously reproduce and resist colonial imaginings of Punjabi territory. Many first-generation diasporas continue to define themselves through regional affiliations inherited from colonial legacies, with Singapore’s gurdwaras serving as a spatial ‘fix’ for mapping territorial logics from the Punjab. However, these colonial imaginaries are increasingly contested and ‘unmapped’ by younger generations who seek to socialise in alternative spaces of belonging based on shared pieties and upbringing. By reimagining belonging beyond essentialist framings of home-diaspora connections, the idea of ‘diasporic territoriality’ contributes to decolonising prevailing understandings of territory and belonging. Doing so provides a provocative counterpoint to re-evaluate state-sponsored narratives of integration within the context of multiculturalism.

Discipline

Asian Studies | Human Geography | Race and Ethnicity | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies

Research Areas

Integrative Research Areas

Publication

Geopolitics

First Page

1

Last Page

26

ISSN

1465-0045

Identifier

10.1080/14650045.2025.2451300

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Group

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2025.2451300

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