Affiliated Faculty

<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Gurharpal Singh is Emeritus Professor of Sikh and Punjab Studies at SOAS, University of London, and Professor of Politics and Diaspora Studies at King's College London, where he is based in the King's India Institute. A political scientist by training, his research spans the politics of modern India and Pakistan, Sikh nationalism, the Partition of India, religious and ethnic conflict in South Asia, multicultural governance, and the Indian diaspora — with particular and sustained attention to the Sikhs.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Singh was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at SOAS from 2011 to 2017. Previously, he held the C.R. Parekh Chair in Indian Politics at the University of Hull and the Nadir Dinshaw Chair in Inter-religious Relations in the School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham. He was awarded the Emeritus Professorship in Sikh and Punjab Studies at SOAS in 2020.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">His scholarship on Sikh nationalism and Indian ethnic politics is anchored in two books. <strong><em>Ethnic Conflict in India: A Case-Study of Punjab</em></strong> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2000) advanced the argument that India should be understood as a de facto ethnic democracy — a thesis that has shaped subsequent debate, particularly in light of Hindu nationalism's ascendance under the BJP. <strong><em>Sikh Nationalism: From a Dominant Minority to an Ethno-Religious Diaspora</em></strong> (Cambridge University Press, 2022), co-authored with Giorgio Shani, traces the trajectory of Sikh nationalism from its origins in the Panjab to its transformation as a diaspora-driven movement. Related articles include "Making Sense of Sikh Nationalism" (<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, 2023) and "The Punjab Crisis since 1984: A Reassessment" (<strong><em>Ethnic and Racial Studies</em></strong>, 1995). His earlier monograph <strong><em>Communism in Punjab: A Study of the Movement up to 1967</em></strong> (Ajanta, 1994) remains the standard account of the communist movement in the Panjab.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">On the Partition of India, Singh has published extensively with Ian Talbot. <strong><em>The Partition of India</em></strong> (Cambridge University Press, 2009) provides a widely used synthesis. Together they co-edited <strong><em>Region and Partition: Bengal, Punjab and the Partition of the Subcontinent</em> </strong>(Oxford University Press, 1999) and <strong><em>Punjabi Identity: Continuity and Change</em></strong> (Manohar, 1996). His most recent article, "Partition Violence, Mountbatten and the Sikhs: A Reassessment" (<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, 2024), draws on new archival material to argue that violence in the Panjab resulted from the failure of British Sikh policy and Mountbatten's complicity. He is currently working on a Leverhulme Trust-supported project on the Partition and the Sikhs.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Singh's research on the British Sikh diaspora and multiculturalism constitutes a third major body of work. <strong><em>Sikhs in Britain: The Making of a Community</em></strong> (Zed Books, 2006), co-authored with Darshan Singh Tatla, is the first comprehensive study of the Sikh community in Britain, tracing British-Sikh identity from the nineteenth century to the present. Related publications include "Gurdwaras and Community-Building among British Sikhs" (<strong><em>Contemporary South Asia</em></strong>, 2006), "British Multiculturalism and Sikhs" (<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, 2005), "A Victim Diaspora? The Case of the Sikhs" (<strong><em>Diaspora</em></strong>, 1999), and the co-edited <strong><em>Culture and Economy in the Indian Diaspora</em></strong> (with Bhikhu Parekh and Steven Vertovec, Routledge, 2003). He is currently part of an ESRC/ORA-funded international programme examining diaspora politics and the mainstreaming of national populism, with Leicester — where he has lived since 1964 — as a case study.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">From 2005 to 2011, Singh was Deputy Director of the Department for International Development (DFID) Religions and Development Research Programme at the University of Birmingham, an international partnership with country partners in India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Tanzania. He led research on religion, politics, and governance; religious transnationalism; and faith communities in post-conflict transformation, producing publications including "Religious Transnationalism, Development and the Construction of Religious Boundaries: The Case of the Dera Sachkhand Ballan and the Ravidass Dharm" (<strong><em>Global Networks</em></strong>, 2013).</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">His additional edited volumes include <strong><em>Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity</em></strong> (with Shackle and Mandair, Curzon/Routledge, 2000) and <strong><em>State and Nation-Building in Pakistan</em></strong> (with Long, Samad, and Talbot, Routledge, 2016).</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Singh is an editor of <strong><em>Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory</em> </strong>(Routledge) and was a founding editor of the <strong><em>International Journal of Punjab Studies</em></strong> (Sage). He serves as a legal expert witness on Sikhs, Sikhism, and the Sikh diaspora, and has provided expert advice to the governments of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, as well as the European Union and the United Nations.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Singh earned his B.Sc. in Economics and his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and his M.A. from the University of Warwick.</p>

The politics of modern India with emphasis on ethnic conflict, Sikh nationalism, and Hindu nationalism. The Partition of India and its consequences for the Sikhs, drawing on archival research. The Sikh diaspora in Britain — community formation, gurdwara institutions, and multicultural governance. Religions and development, including religious transnationalism and the role of faith communities in governance and post-conflict settings.