Episode 303: Simran Jeet Singh Keeps Going
Transcript!
PDF transcript. Also available via our Buzzsprout page.
Shownotes
(because citations are political)
Today’s episode is the second of a pair centered on public scholarship, representation, and ultimately the work of Dr. Simran Jeet Singh. This one follows through on all the issues of doing public scholarship in religion: why we do it, why you might want to, and why it matters.
We’re so honored to have Dr. Simran Jeet Singh join us for a conversation about representation, public scholarship, children’s literature, Sikh experience, and more.
As a refresher, here’s the 2-part-arc:
E302: Public Scholarship & Representation
27 January 2021
In which we talk about public scholarship, why you might want to do it, and how representation of religion—maybe especially minoritized religions—in various publics matters.
E303: Simran Jeet Singh Keeps Going
10 February 2021
Guest lecture chat with Prof. Simran Jeet Singh, author of oh so many things, but most recently Fauja Singh Keeps Going, which both NPR and the New York Public Library listed as a top 2020 title.
The 101:
(where we did the professor-work)
Dr. Simran Jeet Singh is a renown educator, writer, and activist, who is perhaps best known for his public scholarship about religion, racism, and justice. He was a Luce/ACLS Fellow for Religion, Journalism, and International Affairs and a Visiting Scholar at New York University's Center for Religion and Media, the 2018 Peter J. Gomes Memorial honoree from Harvard Divinity School, NYU’s first Sikh chaplain, serves on too many advisory boards to mention, he hosts the Spirited Podcast and the “Becoming Less Racist” web series, and the author of the must-read, best-selling children’s book Fauja Singh Keeps Going. His next book is about Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhi.
Why did we want him on the pod? Well, he is a prolific public scholar who teaches us, all the time, about how certain people with certain bodies are not afforded the choice to be public scholars or not. He recently wrote, in “Why universities--and the rest of us--need religious studies” that as a turban-wearing, beard-having brown man, knowing about religion is a life or death issue for him and people who look like him. He’s talked a lot in public about how being a scholar, looking and presenting the way he does, means that his life - in and out of the academic arena - has often had folks demanding he be the Sikh voice, the Brown voice, the Non-Christian voice.
Dr. Singh’s 101—his what’s the take-home message about why he studies religion—was that as a “brown-skinned, turban-wearing, beard-loving dude” learning about religion is just one way to learn about others, to develop empathy, do learn how to be interventionists in our communities and ourselves. Teaching about religion, then, is the same, and can’t just be about headiness and monographs. He talked about the service element of public scholarship: this is a just thing to do, a responsible thing to do, a right thing to do.
Dr. Singh’s book, which is a 2020 New York Public Library and NPR best read!
We talked about translating one’s PhD-level knowledge about religion, race/racialization, Sikhi, and politics into a children’s book, why that audience is also worthy of teaching, and how being Sikh-in-public has meant that Simran’s public scholarship is assumed as often as it is chosen.
We talked really widely about how and why Simran does this work, but especially about how he just keeps going: despite hate constantly directed at him, he carries on doing public scholarship (which, remember, we defined as teaching outside a classroom).
Simran talked about why the work of public scholarship is often sneered at by “legitimate” academics (which we put in square quotes, folks), especially since this particular public scholarship is a children’s book. But as Simran told us, when his daughters were born it underlined how he didn’t feel like he had the luxury to write a monograph to be read by 10 fellow nerds. What would it look like, instead, to tell the story about race, religion, ageism, ableism, through the story of a Sikh protagonist and in prose that hit an audience usually overlooked as learners?
Needless to say, Megan and Ilyse find this kind of public scholarship not only innovative (what does it mean to translate our high-level theory to little people?) but also necessary (what might it mean to teach children young?).
One of the nodes of this conversation was talking about risk. Simran talked death threats, hate, professional risk. Simran talked about strategies for mitigating risk—all of which is about not talking too much about the risk, not acting like you’re rattled, not striking back so that you can stay employed. This is the bit that is harrowing—this is the bit that Megan and Ilyse as white women cannot actually get inside—and this is the piece of simply existing as a “brown-skinned, turban-wearing, beard-loving” scholar in public. As Simran put it: “there are significant costs,” and “you should consider that when you’re looking at people doing the public work and when you are considering doing public work.”
Primary Sources!
(the segment where we talk about how the episode’s themes affect us, as humans, because the “I” matters)
Truth was? This whole episode was primary sources!
Homework!
(that’s right, nerds, there’s always more to learn)
Following Dr. Judith Weisenfeld’s episode, where she asked us what work we were most proud of, we’re asking all our guests that question this season.
Of everything he’s done, Simran said he’s most proud of (to date):
A webseries for Religion News Service called “Anti-Racism as Spiritual Practice.”
Season 1 episode 13 featured Megan! The series began with future KI101 guest Dr. Anthea Butler!
Season 2 of this series is just starting in 2021! Tune in for luminaries you’ll recognize from the pod, like Drs. Omid Safi and Judith Weisenfeld—and also Ilyse!
A co-authored piece with Dr. Gunisha Kaur on the Farmers’ Protests in India, via CNN.
A piece on Sikhs and policing and the complicated politics of it: as Simran explained, he has experienced policy brutality first-hand and supports defunding efforts and has advocated, in his civil rights work, that police and military policies change so that Sikhs may serve whilst wearing their religious garb.
For our part, in addition to the above, we think you should get into Simran’s many public projects, essays, podcasts, books... Here’s just a few! (Really, he’s at hundreds of op-eds. We can’t link them all.)
The Spirited Podcast!
the Articles of Faith series!
There’s a lot here, so here’s our favorites of this regular column:
An explainer on Sikhs and Sikhi for The Conversation
Fauja Singh Keeps Going, of course!