The colonial construction of the "Sikh soldier" and it's legacy

[samuel_hamilton]

Jasbir Puar the author of The Turban Is Not a Hat explores many themes in her meditation about the identity of Sikh men and racialised bodies post-9/11 and the intersection of race, religion and identity. One part of the essay I found particularly interesting was when Puar explored British colonial history in relation to Sikh men and the turban. Puar writes how the British incorporated turbaned Sikhs into the military as a way to "effeminate Hindu masculinity" and symbolically use the turban as “a mark of discipline and obedience” as well as "a trace of savagery and wildness,". This highlights how the British weaponised and colonial constructed image of the turbaned Sikh soldier creating a duality where the turban is viewed as a mark of "subjugation" whilst also eliciting narratives of "barbarism". They also positioned the Sikh man in contrast with that of the Hindu man where the Sikh man was viewed as a "solider" and the Hindu man was "effeminate". The legacies of this continue to permeate today into modern society with Puar writing how "British colonialism is therefore complicit with the fusing of the turban in the late ninetieth century with emergent Sikh identity, one that is ironically mocked and vilified in contemporary Britain." highlighting how this colonial construction of the Sikh turban continues to impact the Sikh community today.