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The Construction of Religious Boundaries


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Has anyone read the book 'The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition' by Harjot Oberoi?

I believe it is supposed to be a critical analysis of the distinctness of the Sikh identity prior to the Singh Sabha movement.

I've ordered the book from Amazon, looking forward to reading it. Just wondering if anyone else here has read it and are willing to share their thoughts. Im asking because the book is mentioned in 'Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues with Sikh Militants' as being something which stirred alot of controversy in North America.

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Guest Javanmard

Well, the book is an honest attempt to deconstruct Singh Sabha self prerceptions of identity. The problem with Oberoi is that his methodology is based practically on British documents only and does not realise that it would wave been necessary to deconstruct the "Hindu" paradigm as well.

The book has a lot of useful information though and could be consider to be a first attempt (even though not entirely succesul) to uncover the Singh Sabha construct.

In anay case the response to this book "Invasion of Religious Boundaries" is probably the most pathetic and ridiculous book I have read in years!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the book a couple of days ago, read the first chapter already. Very interesting so far... Although not on the subject of the book i was pleased to see the author give some information about Punjab.

Looking forward to more..

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i also have just started reading the same book... will tell u what i think when i finish.

jahan... seeing as u have such an interest in punjab, i just got some books from india u might be interested in...

"the punjab a hundred years ago" as described by v. jacquemont (1831) & a. soltykoff (1842) , translated & edited by h.l.o. garrett. (1971)

"the punjaub" by lieut. colonel steinbach (1883)

"the legends of the punjab" by r.c. temple (1962)

"a glossary of the tribes and castes of the punjab and the north-west frontier province" 3 volumes (1883)

let me know if u want to borrow any. are u coming to the sikh student camp?

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Ah thats excellent man. I was gonna order the last book you listed from Amazon but i've already ordered a few that im still waiting for from them.

Im not going to the Sikh camp (first i've heard of it) but im going to return to education in September so i'll join the Sikh society there most likely.

What are your thoughts on the books you've got? I've never been a big reader and have only ever read a book from start to finish this year (that being the one on my avatar). But nowadays since i dont do alcohol or clubbing or girlfriends etc and since i been doing nothing all year i just browse the net, work on my homepage and started reading books on Punjab, Mughals, and some on Sikh history. (Well, those are the 'good' things i do, heh).

Im probably gonna end up being some kind of book worm :P

Its taken 20 years for me to discover the world of reading books :LOL: Maybe i will write my own one day im thinking, hmmm..

Jiyo,

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