In this episode of the Sikh Formations Podcast, host Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair speaks with Gurharpal Singh about his article on Hindu nationalism and the rise of the BJP under Narendra Modi.

Together they explore the historical roots of Hindutva, the political ascent of the BJP, and the shifting meanings of nationalism and secularism in contemporary India. The conversation examines how state power, media, and ideology intersect in reshaping public life, as well as the blurring boundaries between the BJP and the Congress tradition.

They also discuss the treatment of religious minorities, the role of caste in political consolidation, and the growing pressures on academic and civic institutions. From authoritarian populism to the limits of liberal democracy, the episode offers a sharp analysis of the current political moment and its broader implications for India and beyond.

In this episode of the Sikh Formations Podcast, host Gurkirat Singh Sekhon speaks with Shauna Singh Baldwin about her novel What the Body Remembers and the broader stakes of writing history, memory, and gender from the Sikh diaspora.

Together they explore how fiction emerges from the erasures of history — especially around the marginalization of womens experiences and voices during Partition. Baldwin reflects on her creative process, the role of memoir and archives, and the unique possibilities of diasporic writing in accessing histories across borders.

Throughout, Baldwin highlights writing as a practice of learning. A practice that embraces complexity, challenges certainty, and opens space for new ways of seeing the self and others.

In this episode of the Sikh Formations Podcast, host Sukhpal Singh Bhullar speaks with Dr. Peter Admirand about his article “Catholic–Sikh Dialogue and the Importance of Guru Nanak.” Together they explore the possibilities and tensions of interreligious dialogue, reflecting on how encounters across faith traditions can foster humility, curiosity, and mutual learning.

Drawing on Admirand’s experiences engaging Sikh communities and teaching world religions, the conversation considers questions of religious pluralism, the limits of theological language, and the challenge of remaining rooted in one’s own tradition while remaining open to others. Bhullar and Admirand also reflect on Sikh and Christian mystical and theological traditions that grapple with the ineffability of the divine.

Throughout the discussion, they highlight how dialogue across religious difference does not erase distinctions but can deepen understanding, opening new possibilities for shared ethical reflection, community, and social responsibility in a plural world.

In this episode of the Sikh Formations Podcast, host Aneeth Kaur Hundal speaks with Inderpal Grewal and Sasha Sabharwal about their influential article “Slow Violence in Post-1984 Punjab: Remembering, Forgetting, and Refusals.” Together they explore how memories of the conflicts surrounding 1984 anti‑Sikh violence and the years that followed continue to shape everyday life, gendered experiences of violence, and diasporic memory. Drawing on ethnographic research with women across Punjab and the diaspora, the conversation examines how forms of slow, structural, and ordinary violence complicate dominant narratives about militancy, counterinsurgency, and state power.

Arvind-Pal S. Mandair specializes in Sikh and South Asian studies. Motivated by the intersecting questions of diaspora, religion, secularity, and technology, his research and teaching interests cut across a number of different fields including: Global Philosophies, history of and afterlives of religions, cross-secularity, colonization, political violence, psychoanalysis, and the study of spirituality.

In this inaugural podcast episode, Dr. Mandair discusses the origins and context of the Sikh Formations journal, as well as its continued presence in the fields of Sikh and Punjab studies.