Promotional Information

A theoretical account of the formation of Sikh diaspora and Sikh nationalism, arguing that the diaspora, rather than originating from the nation, has a major role in the nation's creation.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Promise and Threat 1
1: The Maharaja's Glorious Body 39
2: The Restricted Zone 79
3: The Tortured Body 121
4: Glassy Junction 158
5: The Homeland 197
Conclusion 224
Notes 237
Bibliography 263
Index 291

About the Author

Brian Keith Axel is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Swarthmore College. He is the editor of From the Margins: Historical Anthropology and Its Futures, also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

"Axel poses new questions regarding regarding the relation between the diaspora and the nation - state. Focusing on the representations of bodies and cultures in cyberspace, academia, cartography, and colonial portraiture, his is the first work to use recent cultural studies and cultural anthropology approaches to intervene in transnational studies." - Inderpal Grewal, San Francisco State University "Historical Anthropology at its best, The Nation's Tortured Body explores the history and politics of the Sikhs in a complex, and contested, transnational context. Axel's book evocatively charts the ways in which the crossing and marking of boundaries have shaped the foundational identities of a diasporic community, providing a graphic illustration of the multiple meanings of the idea of 'homeland' in our contemporary postcolonial world." - Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University " ... makes an important and timely contribution to the masculinity and embodiment literature, and will provide a useful resource for those interested in issues of Sikhism and diaspora."--ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING D: SOCIETY AND SPACE, 21