Harjot Oberoi
Courses
Sikh Social Justice and Modern Advocacy: The Sant-Sipahi in Action
This course examines how the Sikh ideal of the ਸੰਤ-ਸਿਪਾਹੀ — the saint-soldier who unites contemplative devotion with moral courage — translates into the institutions and practices of modern social justice advocacy. Drawing on Gurbani, Sikh history, and contemporary sociology, students trace the journey from the battlefield ethic of the Khalsa to the courtroom, the picket line, the refugee shelter, and the interfaith coalition. The course surveys Sikh civil rights movements across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada; anti-discrimination law; the labor ethic rooted in ਕਿਰਤ ਕਰਨੀ; the work of organizations such as the Sikh Coalition and United Sikhs; the long campaign for recognition of the 1984 violence; and the theology of solidarity that underwrites Sikh alliances with Muslim, Black, and Indigenous communities. Throughout, students learn to distinguish principled coalition-building from the dissolution of identity, and to read advocacy as an expression of ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ — the well-being of all. The arc closes with the Guru's vision of ਹਲੇਮੀ ਰਾਜ, a polity of humility and justice, as the horizon toward which Sikh advocacy aims…
Craft, Social Change, and the Sikh Future
A capstone framing: what sociology can and cannot say about religious change, and why the Panth makes a good case study.
