Precarious and model minorities: Sikh identities in the ‘new’ global politics of religion

ABSTRACT

In many parts of the world, Sikhs have come to be perceived as a ‘model' minority – so much so that some have critiqued the Sikh community for taking up positions that are perceived as assimilationist. Such critiques, however, gloss over the sense of precarity, and the litany of hardships, racial discrimination and legal battles in which Sikhs have been forced to be engage in a post-9/11 world. Ultimately, this discrimination is enabled and justified by historical western notions of the incommensurability of the sacred and secular. Engaging with recent critical debates over the on-going meanings of the sacred and the secular, this paper argues that the contemporary moment requires a cosmopolitan religious outlook. Such debates reveal the separation between the public and the private, and between the sacred and the secular, to be ‘zombie categories' that fail to capture contemporary realities. Hence, conceptualizing Sikh identities as precarious, vulnerable ‘model minorities' in a post-Brexit/Trump era allows us to explore a Sikh ethics underpinned by the universal message of SGGS Ji. This is so because such ethics have never been conceptualized as simply being ‘other-worldly’, but rather as precisely grounded in the world that has been entrusted to us.     

Very pre‐term infants' behaviour at 1 and 2 years of age and parental stress following basic developmental care

This study explored the effects of basic developmental care on the behaviour of very pre‐term infants and parental stress at 1 and 2 years of corrected age. A randomized controlled trial was done to compare basic Developmental Care (standardized nests and incubator covers) and controls (standard care). Parents of infants born <32 weeks of gestation completed questionnaires measuring child behaviour and parental stress at 1 year (N = 139) and 2 years (N = 133) of the child's age. Parental stress was measured using the Nijmegen Parenting Stress Index and child behaviour was measured using the Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and the Child Behaviour Checklist 2–3. At 1 year of age, children in the basic developmental care group had significantly higher behaviour scores on the total competence domain (p = .009) and the competence subscale mastery motivation (p = .002) of the ITSEA questionnaire, meaning that the infants showed more curiosity, persistence, obedience and enjoyment with small accomplishments. No significant effects were found on problem behaviour or parenting stress. We conclude that introducing a basic form of developmental care in the neonatal intensive care unit has a positive influence on the child's competence behaviour at 1 year of age.