The Sikh Community (Mortensen)

 

(This image has been taken from SikhNet.com)

Servant Leadership

In my conversations with my immersion group contacts, what they really ask for is awareness. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, Sikhs are often mistaken for members of other populations, such as Muslims. They are a completely different population of people, and they have their own identities that are often not recognized simply because people are not aware.

A good servant leadership activity would be to set up opportunities for others to learn about populations of people that are often mistaken for others or are generalized. If done in an appropriate manner, we could invite Sikh individuals to come and speak about their history and about their culture. We can also do the simple act of providing resources that are already available but are simply outside of peoples’ awareness. In a way, these blog posts are doing that very thing, as long as everyone makes an effort to read them.

Websites such as SikhNet.com (try https://www.sikhnet.com/pages/who-are-sikhs-what-is-sikhismin particular) are readily available sources that can help to inform you of Sikh traditions and practices. You can also consider taking part in the Guru Nanak Religious Society’s gatherings on Sundays. I have posted their website before, but I will do it again (http://www.gnrsohio.org/).

 

Image retrieved from https://www.sevafoodbank.com/a-few-sikh-principles-to-live-by/

Strengths-Based Needs

Despite the hardships that many Sikh Americans experienced, especially after the events of 9/11, they have responded immensely with patience and compassion. Ahluwalia & Pellettiere (2010) describe the various coping methods that Sikh Americans utilized in response to misidentification and discrimination. First, education is considered a very important consideration for Sikhs. A lot of effort has been put forth into educating others about not only who Sikhs are, but about other minority groups and what their rights are. Sikh worship is often open to anyone who wishes to partake and learn. Sikhs are also very involved in community service. The term seva, is “participating in selfless acts for the betterment of communities”. It is a core aspect of Sikh belief, and it is a huge part of their everyday lives. After the events of 9/11, taxi drivers offered free rides to all volunteers on site. A large part of their service happens during Langat, which is the community meal. Everyone sits at an equal level to indicate that no one is above anyone else, and members often assist in the passing out of food (depicted in the picture above). Other ways of service often involve donating to organizations like Red Cross.

It is important as counselors that we recognize how important service and giving is to Sikhs and that we try to meet them there. The great work they have been put forth should be the focus, and those coping strategies should continue to be encouraged. As “aspiring allies” we should try to get involved in Sikh community service and take the chance to learn about them and get to know them. Doing this will not only bring awareness to us but also highlight their efforts to the whole community.

References:

Ahluwalia, M. K., & Pellettiere, L. (2010). Sikh men post-9/11: Misidentification, discrimination, and coping. Asian American Journal of Psychology1(4), 303–314.

Ahluwalia, M. K., & Alimchandani, A. (2013). A call to integrate religious communities into practice: The case of Sikhs. The Counseling Psychologist41(6), 931–956.

Image from https://www.facebook.com/turbanandbeard/

Systemic Challenges

I included the above image to help represent the fact that after the events of 9/11, many Sikh men were misidentified as Muslim or Arab based on their long beards and their turbans. They have been the target of increased microaggressions, racial profiling and physical violence. These often appear in the form of commonplace indignities, hate crimes, stops at airport security, and “no turban” policies, among other things (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010). I was first drawn to the Sikh population when I first heard Gurbir Grewal speak after he was insulted by two New Jersey radio hosts. Gurbir Grewal is the Attorney General of New Jersey, and he is the first Sikh-American to hold such a position in United States history. The two radio hosts had forgotten his name, complaining that it was too hard to remember or pronounce, and resorted to calling him “Turban Man”. Grewal responded with patience, reminding everyone of his name, who he is, and that he is a practicing Sikh. The two radio hosts were quickly and indefinitely suspended. One of the things that impressed me, as was laid out by Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, was that Sikhs put a lot of importance in the education of others about their religion, as well as putting lots of time into community service. They are very open to anyone that wants to learn. They have a place of worship in Columbus: Guru Nanak Religious Society, that openly invites everyone to join for their weekly Sangat. I plan on doing so over the course of this semester. Their website can be found here: http://www.gnrsohio.org/.

Reference:

Ahluwalia, M. K., & Pellettiere, L. (2010). Sikh men post-9/11: Misidentification, discrimination, and coping. Asian American Journal of Psychology1(4), 303–314.

 

Annotated Bibliography

Ahluwalia, M. K., & Pellettiere, L. (2010). Sikh men post-9/11: Misidentification, discrimination, and coping. Asian American Journal of Psychology1(4), 303–314.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of Sikhs after the events of 9/11. The author mentions the lack of psychological literature on this topic, the article uses many sources from media and institutional reports as well as community organizations’ websites. The study was phenomenological in nature. It included five Sikh Indian American men from around New York City who lived their before, during and after the events of 9/11. The study revealed that many Sikh men are misidentified as Muslim and Arab, are often victims of numerous microaggressions, and that the Sikh men who were interviewed have come up with multiple coping strategies, which included teaching others about Sikhism and by being involved in community service. It gives us a better understanding of our experiences given the lack of literature on the subject. The research did have some limitations, including the small sample size as well as the mismatch in female researchers and male participants, which could have influenced the participants willingness to open up.

 

Ahluwalia, M. K. (2011). Holding my breath: The experience of being Sikh after 9/11. Traumatology17(3), 41–46.

This article explores the author’s experiences as a member of the Sikh community after the events of 9/11 and helped to outline lessons that show the effects of racism. The article pulls info from the author’s personal experiences while also calling on information from an article on race-based traumatic stress (Carter, 2007). The article shows three lessons that the author hoped to express: That paralysis happens to the researchers, that telling a story of traumatization can retraumatize, and that aggression and microaggressions have enormous impacts on identity, religious identity, and community. The main limitation in this piece is that it largely a reflection article by the author and is not entirely generalizable to those with different experiences. But this author in one of their earlier pieces stated that there was a very small selection of research done on Sikh Americans and trauma, so this article helps to bolster that.

 

Ahluwalia, M. K., & Alimchandani, A. (2013). A call to integrate religious communities into practice: The case of Sikhs. The Counseling Psychologist41(6), 931–956.

This article discusses proper counseling methods for working with Sikhs and Sikh communities, and it works to create a multicultural basis for practice. The article offers many points of interest, including an overview of cultural beliefs and historical context relating to Sikhism as a minority religion and as a community. The article raises the importance of understanding these contexts to better our advocacy and counseling efforts and to build trust and competence and includes the importance of immersion and awareness. This is an up-to-date article with many useful resources for anyone interested in advocacy for this group of people.

 

Inman, A. G., Devdas, L., Spektor, V., & Pendse, A. (2014). Psychological research on South Asian Americans: A three-decade content analysis. Asian American Journal of Psychology5(4), 364–372.

The purpose of this study was to explore the content of psychological research from academic journals that had been done on South Asian Americans to determine trends and needs in the population over the course of three decades. The study explored a vast selection of articles found on search engines such as PsychINFO and Google Scholar from years 1980-2012, including 133 empirical articles from 88 peer-reviewed journals. A content analysis was run for these articles, and the methodology included looking for content and trends in the areas of psychological health, interpersonal dynamics, acculturative stress, identity, and domestic violence. The study found that there should be an increased focus on expanding content areas to include older populations as well as LGBT communities, cultural conflict, substance abuse, and career. This article helps to understand the weaknesses in areas such as research on Sikh populations as well as other South Asian populations. The article also offers a good selection of other literature that can be used in the future for many populations. It was completed, however, in 2012, and does not include changes in the research done over the last 7 years.

 

Uppal, G. K., Bonas, S., & Philpott, H. (2014). Understanding and awareness of dementia in the Sikh community. Mental Health, Religion & Culture17(4), 400–414.

The purpose of this study was to examine the explore the perceptions of dementia by Sikhs living in the UK. There was a determine whether this was due to prevalence differences of dementia in their population or due to different community needs. The study was completed in 2013 and offers many resources that came from the 2000’s. Not a lot of research has been done on this population, so these are relatively new sources. In this study, 28 participants were able to attend out of the 68 individuals who had consented, which presents a possible flaw in the study, but one that is difficult to fix. Participants were audio recorded in small groups of 4-6 people. The groups explored vignette samples about dementia to illustrate the levels of understanding. The authors came to the conclusion that Sikhs have a lack of awareness concerning dementia and its symptoms. There was also a fear of stigmatization from the community that made it difficult to seek help or develop productive coping strategies. This study should be repeated with a larger sample size, as well as more individuals in an older age range.