It's Tuesday! So far this month, we've been talking about anti-Blackness in South Asian communities in response to events in the US & UK. It's also June aka Pride month 🏳️🌈 so we'll be talking in coming weeks abt LGBTQIA+ South Asian heritage. #SharedHeritage #OSCH #kickthedust
Today though, I want to talk about something you might not have heard about - June is a significant month for the Sikh community as it marks the anniversary of a darker time in our history, from the year 1984. #sikhheritage #OSCH #Sharedheritage
Before lockdown, we had been preparing @GlasgowMuseums to welcome work by Nep Sidhu, a Sikh artist whose work responds to the events of 1984, the resulting trauma & need for healing within the Sikh community, as part of @GIfestival. glasgowinternational.org/artists/nep-si…
Before I go on, do you know about 1984 in Sikh and Indian history? Quick 10 minute poll.
CW: violence.
This article by @SikhProf outlines the events that took place, from the Indian army opening fire at Sri Harmandar Sahib (you might know it better as the Golden Temple) in June, to anti-Sikh violence later in the year.
time.com/3545867/india-…
This article by @SikhProf outlines the events that took place, from the Indian army opening fire at Sri Harmandar Sahib (you might know it better as the Golden Temple) in June, to anti-Sikh violence later in the year.
time.com/3545867/india-…
After years of enquiry, it emerged that the Indian army actually sought advice from the British government, making this a shared heritage on a much deeper level. This month there has been a renewed call for investigation into this involvement. thewire.in/rights/british…
Now, I'm not going to get into the events themselves much more, as we could be here for hours. However, there are a couple of really relevant issues for us to consider re: heritage and colonialism.
1. In June 1984, the Sikh Reference Library was emptied/burned. There are suggestions that the contents were taken during the clean up operation, others say they were destroyed in the fighting. Either way, the most valuable repository of Sikh heritage is gone.
2. When histories are complex and political, how do we tell the stories in an accurate way, and how makes space for us to do this in museums? What are museums doing to support communities through telling their stories, especially those filled with trauma?
From a youth work perspective, this is most important. Events like this are difficult for older generations to talk about because of the trauma, so how do we as younger people learn about what happened?
In recent conversations about looting and colonialism, it has never felt so relevant to be thinking about the loss of the Sikh Reference Library. Burning books and manuscripts is a political, colonial tactic, used to erase a culture, a history, a community.
