Sada Safar

Guest blogged by Adi Shakti Kaur

For as long as I can remember, I can envision the imprints of patriarchy within the Guruduaras (Sikh spaces of worship). The Guru, was more than sacred scriptures; more than a living embodiment of the ‘word’; more than a Guru, who took us from darkness to light; but a portal for us to connect to our own Divinity, a genderless form that was beyond the simple, human constructions of defining, labeling and understanding. But in the Guru’s Darbar (court of the Guru), it was brimming with gendered representations. The examples of patriarchy in Guruduaras are monolithic – every role in the Guru Darbar is dominated by men, from the giving of prashad to the katha vichar. Sikhi emerged out of a cultural, political, economic and social period that privileged the masculine gender, and of course patriarchy (as well as other hierarchical constructions).

The revolutionary stance that Sikhi took on the existing beliefs challenged all aspects of the zeitgeist during the Guru period.  I articulate this now as a grown woman who has had the honour of a lifelong relationship with Sikhi, with Sikh institutions and with Sikhs, and who also has had the privilege of critically engaging in the world around her, particularly through her academic pursuits. In most Guruduaras, I have had the sacred opportunity to enter, I have been greeted by scenes staged with men occupying the privileged positions in the Guru Darbar, in the langar hall and in seva roles.  When the stage is constantly set with masculine representations of Sikhs, from the physical men before me to the Gurus who established and nurtured Sikhi into its current status as a world religion, I never really considered that there was an institutional space for me, for my sister, for my mother, and any Sikh woman to occupy. And for many Sikh women that male privilege extends into their homes and extended families (thankfully there are anomalies like my parents).

As I delved further into Sikhi, I saw an opening for my feminine identity. The Gurus, starting with Guru Nanak Dev Ji, not only placed value in my sex and gendered identity, but honoured us with our everpresent Kaur title. The cultural, economic, political, and social backdrop is still patriarchy, no matter how you present the egalitarian and feminist interpretations inherent in Sikh philosophy, men were privileged, men were hyper visible and that tradition continues today in the majority of Sikh institutions (including the Guruduaras) and communities. Now that I am far removed from my childhood naïve absorption of the Sikh spaces around me, absorbing the patriarchy of my spiritual space, how do I carve out the egalitarian and feminist standpoints as a grown woman, as a mother to my daughter, so Kaurs can begin to chip away at the institutionalized patriarchal vantage position given to the masculine?

Looking through herstories, there are countless examples of women centered movements that could fall under the Western philosophy of feminism and all of its incarnations. As I tread through the feminist movement, I am reminded of how the suffragettes stood united so we would have the right to a vote and a political voice. I am reminded of how women rallied together around kitchen tables into full fledged consciousness raising groups. I am reminded of the feminist call to action: the personal is the political. I am reminded of Sojourner Truth’s ‘ain’t I a woman’ speech where Truth, a former slave who gave voice to Black women’s experiences and challenged the Christian based reasons to keep women from having equal rights. As a feminist theologian, as a woman of colour, Sojourner Truth demanded equality, demanded to be valued, not only by men, the patriarchal institutions  she lived within, but also by fellow women – particularly privileged, white women.

In the same tradition, other feminist theologians have stood on new ground, a ground they have had to cultivate, a ground they have had to steady in order to challenge patriarchy in all of its manifestations in their spiritual and religious practices. As a feminist who has had the privilege of reading the rich scholarship of feminist theologians, has watched documentaries about their experiences within their religious institutions, I bear witness that it is possible to carve out a Sikh feminist space for ourselves. We have scriptural text that includes the feminine, we have the egalitarian position of the Gurus during the Guru period, we have small victories like the inclusion of our vote in 1925 with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak committee ((SGPC) which acts as the governing body of elected officers who control all historical Guruduaras), and we have changes rippling through families and communities.

So, when grassroots organizations begin emerging to unite Sikh women, to locate us in the Sikh landscape, to give us visibility and voice, I am reminded that those feminist kitchen tables, where that invaluable consciousness raising work happened, have morphed into virtual kitchen tables and grass roots organizations have longer arms, louder voices, and a more prominent presence in cyberspace. Within the constellation of Sikh women-centered organizations, a new star has recently joined the community of feminists, of feminist theologians, of Sikh scholars and of Sikh women centered organizations. SAFAR, the Sikh Feminist Research Institute has carved out a space for themselves to serve as a platform for Sikh feminist scholarship and research.

Safar in Punjabi means journey, but not just any journey, safar usually signifies an arduous journey. While I can retrieve other imagery from Sikh herstory, the image of Sikh women crossing from current day Pakistan into current day Punjab when the British colonizers granted independence to India is prominent when I think of safar. Knitted together from tales I have heard from Sikh elders, I see caravans of women, children and men making their way with the little they could carry. I see the exhaustion hanging in their limbs. I see the fear of what lies ahead present in their eyes. I see the bodies of girls and women being especially guarded with the threat of rape as well as murder. I see the tears and strength of mothers as they journey their families through this violent terrain. This imagery plays out again and again as I think of the word safar. And I think it is fitting that the Sikh Feminist Institute, with their Our Journeys academic conference and with their peer reviewed academic journal: Sikh Feminist Review have used this play on words SaFaR (Sikh Feminist Review) to highlight the arduous journey of our foremothers and the journey ahead for Sikh women, particularly Sikh feminists, to challenge patriarchy in Sikh spaces and to give ourselves and our daughters a more egalitarian position within Sikhi.

Imagine …

Walking into your local Guruduara and you see both women and men serving in the Guru’s Darbar. You look around to see that children are integrated into every aspect of seva within the Guruduara. You see sisters and brothers doing kirtan together. You see daughters playing the tabla and sons playing the sitar. You hear a female voice doing the katha vichar. In the langar hall, you see both men and women cooking the precious langar; both cleaning side by side; and both serving langar side by side. You see pictures of important Sikh women side by side important Sikh men. You see a merger of the feminine and masculine principles.

The call for abstracts for the conference: Our Journeys and the call for peer reviewed papers for the Sikh Feminist Review will follow.  Please consider attending and contributing to Our Journeys conference and contributing to and reading the Sikh Feminist Review.