Post by Jaipreet Kaur on Apr 18, 2017 19:06:10 GMT
Hello!
My name is Jaipreet Kaur and I am a current student at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, USA.
I am a economics and gender studies major and I am always interested in doing research on gender and sexuality constructions and the maintenance of the gender binary and heteronormativity in Sikhism. For one of my courses titled Historical Approaches to Feminist Questions, I am collecting stories (through voice recording) of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Sikhs. I truly believe that systems of oppression can be dismantled through storytelling, as they provide alternate modes of thinking (especially in a world where cisgender, heterosexual, etc people are at the “normative”). Also, this project is an attempt to add to the canon of stories that exist and to provide future generations with stories that will hopefully validate our posterity’s identities. I also believe that there have been Sikhs who have played around with gender/roles since the conception of Sikhism (prior to western colonization)
That being said, I am looking for trans and gender nonbinary sikhs to share their stories as a part of this project! The project would include me asking preliminary guiding questions about gender, transitioning, influence of Sikhism, etc, and then you being able to share your story (whatever that may be!).
As a cisgender Sikh-American woman, I want to be critical of my (colonial) perceptions of gender and sexuality as well as be cognizant of my own biases and privileges. While I find that this research is important and necessary, the implications of my privilege has the potential of harming the individuals and stories I seek to protect. Therefore, this project is about you, not me, and I seek to make it as transparent as possible.
If you have any questions/want to talk further here’s my email!
jaipreet.sethi@columbia.edu
My name is Jaipreet Kaur and I am a current student at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, USA.
I am a economics and gender studies major and I am always interested in doing research on gender and sexuality constructions and the maintenance of the gender binary and heteronormativity in Sikhism. For one of my courses titled Historical Approaches to Feminist Questions, I am collecting stories (through voice recording) of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Sikhs. I truly believe that systems of oppression can be dismantled through storytelling, as they provide alternate modes of thinking (especially in a world where cisgender, heterosexual, etc people are at the “normative”). Also, this project is an attempt to add to the canon of stories that exist and to provide future generations with stories that will hopefully validate our posterity’s identities. I also believe that there have been Sikhs who have played around with gender/roles since the conception of Sikhism (prior to western colonization)
That being said, I am looking for trans and gender nonbinary sikhs to share their stories as a part of this project! The project would include me asking preliminary guiding questions about gender, transitioning, influence of Sikhism, etc, and then you being able to share your story (whatever that may be!).
As a cisgender Sikh-American woman, I want to be critical of my (colonial) perceptions of gender and sexuality as well as be cognizant of my own biases and privileges. While I find that this research is important and necessary, the implications of my privilege has the potential of harming the individuals and stories I seek to protect. Therefore, this project is about you, not me, and I seek to make it as transparent as possible.
If you have any questions/want to talk further here’s my email!
jaipreet.sethi@columbia.edu