Harjot Oberoi

[opensikh]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa

Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh

I would like to ask the sangat has any one read his works?

If so which ones?

Also someone highlighted that Harjot Oberoi, writes alot about 19th century sikhism and its reform and as a cause had alot of hatred during the late 1980/90's from khalistanis and eventually cut of his 'kesh' is this true or not ?

"A valuable contribution to the study of the nineteenth-century Sikh tradition and its formulations of modern Sikh identity. Oberoi's book serves as an excellent starting point in an ongoing debate on the process of identity-formation in the Sikh tradition."--Religious Studies Review

Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition

Please let me know, which of his books are a good read and if you can answer my latter question.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa

Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh

[opensikh]

After more of a search on the net I found that some are critical of his works

Sikh Spectrum http://www.sikhspectrum.com/092002/chairs.htm

The Construction of Religious Boundaries : Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition/Harjot Oberoi. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994, xxii, 494 p.,.

Harjot Oberoi was educated in India and Australia and heads UBC's Sikh Studies program. He angered traditional Sikh groups with his book which says the Sikh religion and culture are fluid and undergoing constant revision, particularly after the British conquered India. His research is presented in The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sijkh Tradition (1994). Contrary to Dr. Oberoi's claim that Sikhism borrowed ideas and practices from Hinduism and Islam, traditionalists believe that their faith, founded in the 16th century, is unique.

[bCBW 1992]

Harjot OberoiWeb Page NameSikh SpectrumWeb Page NameReview

[AnotherSingh]

If someone calls themselves a Sikh, it doesn't make them a Sikh. If someone is a Sikh along the lines the Gurus set out, only then are they Sikhs. Harjot Oberoi assumed that anybody who called themselves sikhs were sikhs. Hence the ''fluidity''.

[Beast]

Even when we factor in how the use of the word Sikh came to be used to label (if that's the correct word) a group of people?

[commander]

I started reading "The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition". I have so far managed to read through about 70 pages, but haven't resumed reading since I stopped about a month ago