“Nationalism of Small Peoples”

This chapter outlines how theories of ethnicity and nationalism have been applied to the Sikhs. It reviews the distinction between primordialists and instrumentalists, the modernist and ethno-symbolic theories of nationalism and discusses the postcolonial approaches. The most recent methodological approaches applied to the Sikhs are evaluated with reference to the literature on diasporas, long-distance nationalism, globalisation, and religious nationalism. The approach taken in this study is integrative. It draws on theories of ethnicity and nationalism, in particular Smith's ethno-symbolic approach, to understand the emergence of modern Sikh nationalism.