Product Description

The Sikh religion has a following of over 20 million people worldwide and is one of the largest religions in the world. However, events such as the verbal and physical attacks on Sikhs just after September 11 indicated that Sikhs were being mistaken for Muslims, and suggests that the raising of sufficient and appropriate awareness about Sikhism still needs to be addressed. This book will introduce newcomers to the meaning of Sikhism, and its practices, rituals, and festivals. The key threads in the fascinating history of the religion will be highlighted, from the Gurus and the development of the Sikh look, to martyrdom and militarization in the 17th and 18th Centuries and the diaspora. Eleanor Nesbitt brings the subject completely up to date with an examination of gender and caste, referring to contemporary film, such as Bend It Like Beckham, and media reports.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31573 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-22
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Eleanor Nesbitt specialises in ethnographic study of the UK's Hindu and Sikh communities. She is Reader in Religions and Education at the Institute of Education, University of Warwick. Her books include: Intercultural Education: Ethnographic and Religious Approaches; Interfaith Pilgrims; The Religious Lives of Sikh Children: A Coventry Based Stud; Guru Nanak (with Gopinder Kaur) ; and Hindu Children in
Britain (with Robert Jackson).

Customer Reviews

Accurate but insipid
Nesbitt's book has all the positive qualities one associates with the VSI series: it is clear, well-presented, readable and accurate. Just the sort of book Sikhs might think about giving to their non-Sikh friends and colleagues. There's a bit of theology, a touch of culture; politics makes an appearance, as does sociology. All the boxes seem to have been ticked.

But there's the rub: reading it feels like a box-ticking exercise. Nowhere does the author try to capture the allure of Sikhism. Why would anyone want to be a Sikh? What is it about the faith that its believers find so attractive? What does Sikhi feel like from the inside?

Of course the author can't answer those questions - she is not a Sikh. But she can ask them, both in her capacity as an ethnographer and, as she puts it, an intellectual questioner. One for the second edition perhaps?

An Excellent Introduction to the Sikh Religion
This book is titled "A Very Short Introduction to Sikhism" yet manages to cover all of the main points about Sikhism in an interesting and readable manner. A great strength is its contemporary feel, and its up-to-date references ensure that it becomes more than just another book about religion. Dr Nesbitt demonstrates her detailed knowledge about Sikhism describing the evolution of Sikhism from Guru Nanak Dev Ji to the modern day, making this book extremely readable by describing the `story' of Sikhism, with each chapter building on information presented in the previous one. I can recommend this book to anyone who requires a concise yet lively and well informed text on the Sikh Religion & Sikh History. A very welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in Religion in general, and Sikhism in particular.

Interesting and Informative
This book was a great relief to find. Tackling an essay on world religions I needed books that were intelligently written but concise, and believe me, they're not that easy to find. This fills the bill exactly. It gives what I imagine is a brief overview of a complex religion without being patronising to that religion or dumbing down too much for the reader. It's a good mix of history, spread of the faith and the nuts and bolts of that faith in practice and mind set. It's by no means definitive, and freely acknowledges it, but as a place to start study it's perfect.