Jacob Levesque Project Proposal
I am studying the Khalistan movement, a separatist movement with intent to create a motherland for Sikhs. The movement aims to create an ethno-religious sovereign state called Khalistan. I want to find out why these people want to separate from India and how they have been trying to accomplish their goals. My project will provide a historical analysis of Sikh identity along with their political grievances and secessionist aspirations.
Research process
I chose this topic because I was talking with a friend of mine, and he brought up the topic of Khalistan because he’s from there. I had never heard of it and have been curious to dig deeper into the topic. I found a lot of different sources with each having one of two varying perspectives. One painted the separationists as terrorists who were merely trying to take over a section of land violently. The other perspective was that India was oppressing these people and they are simply defending themselves and trying to gain independence to better help their people. I learned that this topic is very polarizing with both viewpoints on opposite ends. Also there is so much history behind the conflict of these groups dating back to when Britain had control in the 19th century. I also learned that this conflict has not come to an end and is actively being protested about even in western countries especially Canada and the United States. I think for my final project I might do a timeline of the Khalistan movement and try to show the story in as much of an objective light as possible. I think this would be very helpful for people who are interested in the topic because many of the sources have clear bias for one side of the argument. I think for me finding the primary sources is much more interesting than the secondary sources. Almost all the knowledge on my topic besides some minor details I learned fresh from this research. I knew very little of the region and its political climate and even less about the religion of Sikhism before I started research. Most of my remaining questions are specific such as what laws the Indian government have passed that directly target Sikhism or the area of Punjab. Another question I have is how the people are advocating in the west effecting the situation directly in Punjab or is it for nothing. Some other ways that I could have approached this would to have gone to the library and got books to use for research or perhaps watched documentaries that have been peer reviewed. I could have also approached this project as a compare and contrast between the two sides.
Bibliography
Hindu American Foundation. “The Khalistan Movement: History & Resurgence in the Western Diaspora.” Accessed March 11, 2024. https://www.hinduamerican.org/issues/khalistan/.
“Khalistan | Independence Movement, Sikh Separatism & Punjab Politics | Britannica.”
Accessed March 11, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khalistan.
“Khalistan: Why Are Some Sikhs Calling for a Separate Homeland in India?” September 19, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66852291.
Purewal, Shinder. “Sikh Diaspora and the Movement for Khalistan.” The Indian Journal of Political Science 72, no. 4 (2011): 1131–42. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41856545.
Washington Post. “What Is the Khalistan Separatist Movement behind the India-Canada Rift?,” September 20, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/19/khalistan-movement-india-canada-separatist-sikh/.
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