Ji Aya Nu

Gurdwaras as Refuge and Target in the Islamophobic World Order

Abstract

This chapter explores the spatial transformation of Sikh gurdwaras (community sites for faith-based gathering) over the last two decades in the United States. While since their inception, gurdwaras have always been sites of community mobilization and organization, it is hate violence on Sikh buildings and bodies in the post-9/11 period that has pushed mainstream Sikh communities to envision gurdwaras as sites through which to negotiate their racialized existence. Particularly since 9/11 and throughout the ongoing “War on Terror,” gurdwara buildings have been targeted with Islamophobic hate violence due to having similar architectural design features as mosques (namely domes and arches). The 2012 shootings at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin (Oak Creek), the incident in which a neo-Nazi white supremacist took the lives of six Sikhs and injured three others before turning the gun on himself, became a turning point for contemporary Sikh advocacy in North America.