Sarjit Singh, Ph.D., Professor of Economics (Retd.)

 Clarion University of PA, Clarion, PA

In their enthusiasm to have Sikh culture and religion become part of the curriculum in the cathedrals of higher learning of North America, the Sikh community contributed generously, in excess of a million dollars. The amount was to pay for establishment of a Sikh chair at the University of British Columbia and to start a program at the University of Toronto. Taken in by their glitters, they got far more than they had bargained for, all to their regret and agony.

In exchange, came sequentially, two “disciples,” both imbued directly or indirectly with the brand of scholarship of Dr. W. W. Hugh McLeod, a Christian missionary from New Zealand who had spent some time in Punjab doing what the missionaries do. He turned ‘Sikh scholar’ after acquiring his Ph.D. from the University of London in England rather than from the universities in Punjab, the cradle of the religion and hub of Sikh studies, Not trained formally in vernacular languages, his knowledge of Punjabi language, the linchpin of Sikhism, falls short of a competent scholar who is versed not only in Punjabi but also other languages having a bearing on Punjabi, In Sikh academic circles, his scholarship is viewed as superficial with an axe to grind. However in the English speaking world he enjoys the image of a “know it all,” frequently crossing the oceans as a roving scholar for the right price.

It does seem ironic that both of the disciples, who are of Indian origin, chose not to get their degrees from the institutions in Punjab, where the source material of greater variety would have been easily accessible and opportunities for discussion with other scholars far more numerous, Instéad they got their Ph.D. degrees in countries where the knowledge about the Sikh religion is even less widespread than the information regarding the inhabitants of Mars. A few of their universities only recently began teaching alphabets of the Punjabi language and are a long way off from developing full fledged scholars.

Furthermore, a Western university does not grant a Ph.D. to candidates unless it has in its curniculum the requisite undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as a faculty with terminal degrees in the relevant subject. Where Ph.D, programs do exist, about 50 per cent of the Ph.D. candidates fall by the way side in the field of social sciences because of the problems inherent in the process. But when it comes to the subject of Sikh culture, religion or history, these requirements seem to melt away at several Universities in North America. They do not hesitate to substitute makebelieve and impromptu arrangements for regular degree programs, especially if “pollination” comes from scholars of their own kind. To dilute the blatancy of the academic “malpractice,” the universities invent a kind of “fig leaf” to make the title of the thesis appear as part of their regular curniculum. Such are the discretionary “exquisite” powers vested in an institution of higher learning.

Dr. Pashoura Singh’s case is a good example. He was hired last year by the University of Michigan after he completed his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Toronto. The University itself has no degree program on a regular basis as part of its curriculum at any level in Sikhism, its culture and history. Nor does it have qualified staff with the ability to read, write, or speak Punjabi language much less supervise and critically evaluate research based on it. Yet hiring Dr. McLeod temporarily, and designating him as the advisor, it, nonchalantly, provided a university launching pad to “let the search for truth begin.” Other committee members with nonSikh educational background who could do very lite by way of analyzing and checking for the accuracy of the mission were there. only to comply with the formalities.

Between the advisor at the control, and the candidate with insufficient command of English, out came an approved dissertation after its normal period of gestation. “Dr. Singh obtained his Ph.D. in Sikh Studies from the University of Toronto… and specializes in the Adi Granth (the holy book of the Sikhs) and early Sikh history” says the flyer from the University of Michigan. The University of the Toronto claims that the degree is not in the field of religion.

More than a score of Sikh scholars outside Dr. McLeod’s domain are unanimously convinced that the dissertation has been conceived in illegitimacy for its need, and developed solely on the basis of irrelevant and inadmissible documents rationalized to be genuine and assumed to be “factual.” In words of one reviewer, (Dr. R. S. Sandhu) “the work by the author is replete with unsubstantiated statements, disregard of available evidence, and rash conclusions based upon conjecture rather than logic.” The religious body of the Sikhs finds the dissertation’s conclusion to be blasphemous, ‘That tumed Sikhs apprehensions, which had started to build when Dr.McLeod had assumed the charge following a disconcerting development (summarized in the next paragraph) into anguish. Their request to the University to have an ethical committee instituted to verify compliance with the requirements for initiating theses as stipulated in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada directives (which all institutions of higher learning are required to abide by) was tumed down. Revealing its mind-setcavalierly, it said that the personae dramatis were not there any more, and that the responsibility was theirs alone. It disowned the fact that without the University’s stamp of approval, there would have been no dissertation.

Earlier, another event had begun troubling the Sikhs. The appointment of Dr. H. S. Uberoi several years ago who got his Ph.D. from an Australian university in a similar kind of arrangement, had aroused the Sikhs’ suspicions: While he was unemployed in India after having been awarded his degree, he nevertheless directly landed into a new chair created with Sikhs’ donations at the University of British Columbia, He neither held a teaching position of significance anywhere nor did he acquire any relevant experience worthy of that position. How he got in there must be a miracle if one believes in such as a phenomenon. Alternatively, a look into the University of British Columbia’s hiring practices can unravel this mystery.

Both events certainly made the Sikhs feel not only betrayed but also waylaid by the institutions they trusted to be glowing with reputation for seeking truth, They overlooked the fact that these in- stitutions area mirror image of the society they function in, glittering only the good characteristics. The bad and the ugly lie submerged like the inner parts of elephant’s tusks. Unless the Sikh community asserts itself, its cultural heritage could become “sanitized” at the hands of the “scholars” who seem to be incurably afflicted with the “white man’s- burden syndrome” of the colonial era and they are not likely to disabuse themselves of this notion on their own as long as they have these obliging institutions to use as citadels.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 10, 1993