Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh
Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh is a leading scholar of Sikhism, known for her work on gender and the feminine in the Sikh tradition and for translations of Sikh scripture.
Courses
Women in Sikhi: Equality and History
An exploration of the principle of gender equality in Sikh teaching, its theological foundations in Gurbani, and the lives of notable Sikh women across history. The course examines women's roles in Sangat, Seva, and leadership, their equal access to initiation, and honestly considers the gap between Sikh ideals and…
Equality and Justice in Sikhi: Caste, Dignity, and Gender
This course studies one of the boldest ethical claims in Sikh thought: that every human being shares equal worth before the One. We trace how the Gurus rejected caste (ਜਾਤਿ) and ritual hierarchy, and how they built equality into daily life through shared seating (ਪੰਗਤ), the gathered community (ਸੰਗਤ), and the free…
Gender, Family & the Householder in Sikh Society
A graduate-level sociological study of the family, marriage, kinship, and gender in Sikh life, written in plain English. The course treats the householder life (grihast) as the Sikh social norm rather than an inferior alternative to renunciation; examines the dignity and theological equality of women in Gur…
Females in the Punj Pyare: History, Akal Takht, and Gurbani on Gender in Sikh Ceremony
This 300-level seminar offers an honest, balanced examination of one of the most debated questions in contemporary Sikh practice: whether women may serve among the ਪੰਜ ਪਿਆਰੇ (the Five Beloved Ones) who administer ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸੰਚਾਰ. The course presents four streams of evidence side by side — the historical record of ਵੈਸਾਖੀ 1699 and the centuries that followed, the institutional positions of the ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ and the Sikh Rehat Maryada, the theology of gender equality embedded in ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, and the scholarly debate between traditional (ਟਕਸਾਲ) and reformist-feminist Sikh thinkers. Following the methodology of ਸਾਂਝੀਵਾਲਤਾ (shared belonging) and respectful ਵਿਚਾਰ (deliberation), the course deliberately takes no side. Students learn to distinguish ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ from ਰਹਿਤ, theology from history, and conviction from evidence, so that they may participate in the ਪੰਥ's ongoing collective discernment with rigor, humility, and ਪਿਆਰ…
Queer, Transgender, and LGBTQ+ Identities: A Sikh Theological Inquiry
This 300-level seminar undertakes a rigorous theological inquiry into how Sikh scripture and tradition speak to questions of gender, embodiment, and identity. Beginning from the conviction that the ਆਤਮਾ has no gender, that the ਜੋਤਿ dwells equally in all beings, and that ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ transcends every binary category, the course reads Gurbani as a literature that evaluates persons by their internal relationship with ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ rather than by their physical body or social labels. Students examine the nirgun and sargun registers of Sikh theology, the impermanence of the body, the gender-fluid imagery of the Dasam Granth, the universal-light theme of the Sarbloh Granth, and Guru Nanak's radical dismantling of social hierarchies. The seminar then turns to history, to the Sikh Rehat Maryada, to the Sikh critique of ਹਉਮੈ and ਮਾਇਆ, and finally to the practical ethics of ਸੇਵਾ and ਸੰਗਤ toward LGBTQ+ individuals. Throughout, contested questions are presented with multiple positions held in tension, never resolved by fiat, so that students learn to hold tradition and compassion together while reasoning from Gurmat itself…
Same-Sex Marriage and Sikhi: Gurbani, Akal Takht, and the Scholarly Debate
This 300-level course offers an honest, rigorous, and impartial examination of one of the most contested questions facing the global Sikh community today: how does Sikhi understand same-sex marriage? Beginning with what Sri Guru Granth Sahib actually says about the purpose and theology of ਅਨੰਦ ਕਾਰਜ, the course moves through the textual record of the Dasam and Sarbloh Granths, the historical practice of early Sikh communities, the explicit provisions of the ਸਿੱਖ ਰਹਿਤ ਮਰਯਾਦਾ, and the 2005 Akal Takht ruling. It then presents — fairly and without endorsement — the reformist scholarly critique, the conservative Gurmat defense of tradition, and the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ Sikhs. Students will not be told what to conclude. Instead they will be equipped with the textual, historical, and theological tools to engage the question with ਨਿਮਰਤਾ, intellectual honesty, and respect for the ongoing ਵੀਚਾਰ of the Panth. The course models how a tradition rooted in ਇੱਕ ਓਅੰਕਾਰ holds difficult conversations with integrity, presenting all positions accurately so that each student, family, and ਸੰਗਤ may discern with open eyes…
Reading SGGS with Multiple Commentaries: A Comparative Approach
An expert-level methodology seminar on reading ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ through several commentary traditions at once. Students learn to triangulate the classical Faridkot ਟੀਕਾ, Sahib Singh's modern Guru Granth Darpan, Daljit Singh Jawa's English exposition, and the oral ਸੰਤਥਿਆ of the Sant tradition. The course builds a disciplined comparative practice: how different ਟੀਕਾਕਾਰ handle grammar, ਰਹਾਉ lines, theological disputes, and the gap between scholar (ਵਿਦਵਾਨ) and ਸੰਤ. It is designed as a full-semester study in ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ exegesis and hermeneutics.
Charitropakhyan: Theology and Interpretation in Dasam Granth
An expert-level seminar on the ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰੋਪਾਖਿਆਨ, the longest and most controversial composition in the ਦਸਮ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ. The course situates its 405 tales of ਮਾਇਆ, deception, and worldly cunning within the older Indic and Persian narrative traditions of ਨੀਤਿ-ਸ਼ਾਸਤ੍ਰ and Kalila wa Dimna, examines the centuries-long debate over its authorship, recovers its theological aim of cultivating ਬਿਬੇਕ (discernment) against worldly illusion, and confronts the modern misuse of decontextualized stories. Students engage the full critical bibliography from Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, Robin Rinehart, Pashaura Singh, and others.
