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Wisconsin
University Holds Seminar on Saka 1984
WSN Network
 MADISON:
More than 500 scholars from a dozen plus countries participated in
the 38th Annual South Asia Conference organized by the University of
Wisconsin's Center for South Asia from
October 22-25, 2009.
As a component of the conference, a seminar was organized on October
24 in the context of the Indian Army's attack on Sri Darbar Sahib,
under the title "Re-conceptualizing 1984? The State, Justice and
Representation in the Public Sphere."
Four scholars from different universities presented their papers on
the theme with the stated aim of understanding the tragedy
contemporary contexts. In the last 25 years, efforts to understand
this most important chapter of 20th century's Sikh history have been
few and far in between.
The first paper was by University of British Columbia's
Prabhsharanbir Singh that was read in his absence by Satbir Singh.
Quoting Italian scholar Giorgio Agamben to underline that the modern
state's foundation was not based on law but on its capacity to cast
aside the idea of any lawful establishment, the scholar explained
how the regimes in a modern state continue to hold all powers to
scrap the law and announce an emergency and become a law unto
itself.
It
is because of such a basis of the state that the 20th century has
been a witness to so much holocaust and atrocities.
Another aspect of Saka 1984 was the immense ability of the so-called
democratic Indian nation state, built actually along the lines of a
modern state, to turn into a fascist state. The inclination to
repeatedly impose emergency to control the aspirations of the
minorities only underlines this truth.
Prabhsharandeep Singh also dwelled on the inter-connections between
Shabad and Naad and said the concept of Miri-Piri were not two
separate concepts but have existed together in Sikhism. In fact it
is this unified concept of Miri-Piri that is represented by the Akal
Takht, he said.
Elaborating on the Sway-Bhang aspect of Shabad, he said earlier the
Vedic and Islamic traditions followed the logocentric notions. He
also explained the concept of logocentrism by making references to
Jacques Derrida's "Of Grammatology".
He
said the basis to the Sikh protest movement in 1984 was the fact
that there was a notion of freedom in the Sikh aspirational movement
that began under Sant Bhindranwale since 1978 and this notion was in
resistance to colonialist and Indian logocentric traditions. It was
refusing to buckle or cave in.
The resistance of the body to obey or recognise any notion of
discipline of a state is a condition of spiritual glow that connects
to the highest centres of its inspiration without any external
pressures. The Sikh aspirational movement emerged as a major symbol
of this and underlined that the idea of a Sikh completely
surrendering to his Guru carried more force than any that is brought
against it by the state or its politics.
Harjit Grewal presented the tradition of continued artistic
expression of Sikh experience after 1984 as a movement. Drawing
comparisons between German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter
(1805-1873) who painted the famous portrait of Maharaja Duleep
Singh and Sobha Singh's paintings of 1920s as well as the art
emerging out of 1984, he explained how the Sikh aspirations for
sovereignty makes the image of Duleep Singh a key vehicle of its
expression.
He said similarly the artistic expressions coming up at Gurdwara
Mehtiana only further underline the contemporary Sikh experience.
Puninder Singh Jaitla discussed the dilemma ongoing in
Punjab
about Sikh identitiy and its representation.
2
November 2009
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