Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184702 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

From Library Journal
Mahmood (Frisian and Free: Study of an Ethnic Minority of the Netherlands, Waveland, 1989) undertook this investigation as a study of the anthropology of violence and based her interviews solely on Sikhs living in North America, including some in prison. The narratives relate primarily to the relationship of the individual to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, or the invasion of the holiest Sikh temple by the Indian government in 1984. The last portion of the book raises questions about membership in communities and violent attempts to force conformity. Mahmood discusses Edward Said, Salmon Rushdie, and Harjot Oberoi (a Sikh whose academic writings have stirred much controversy). She is careful to state that the militants within the Sikh community are a minority and raises ethical issues for an anthropologist undertaking such research. Highly recommended.?Donald Clay Johnson, Univ. of Minnesota Lib., Minneapolis
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Incredible Un-Biased book.
After reading Operation Blue Star and other books relating to this general topic I finally came across one that was unbiased and took information from the actual 'militants'. This book will take you a while to read because of the way it was written, however I definetly recommend it to all those wishing to learn what is really going on in India.

I wish I could give this book to John Kerry and be read this you ignorant mofo. I'm referring to this Oklahoma speech during the democratic race on January 31st when he referred to Sikhs as terrorists in India.

This book was a very good and informing read.

Very Biased, Full of factual errors.
Sat Sri Akal,

to the first poster of the review, kindly read the following, taken from the very first page:

"Mahmood ... undertook this investigation as a study of the anthropology of violence and based her interviews solely on Sikhs living in North America, including some in prison. The narratives relate primarily to the relationship of the individual to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, or the invasion of the holiest Sikh temple by the Indian government in 1984. The last portion of the book raises questions about membership in communities and violent attempts to force conformity."

Her research was done by asking MILITANTS (some even in Jail!), and by personal testimonies of Sikhs in North America. and almost all are blindly against the GOI for its attack at the Hari Mandir (Golden Temple) in Amritsar. This same 'freedom' movement resulted in the deaths of many innocent people, and the creation of an almost terrorist state, where there were daily bombings on buses and shootings of civlians.

How unbiased is this book when THIS is what it is based on?

The attack at GT was terrible, but lets look at the facts and base them on reality, rather than personal testimonies by people who will, naturally, have their own strong opinions on the subject.

Thank you

Hope through understanding . . .
My recent interest in Sikhism led me to Mahmood's book, which has given me a much better understanding of the tragedy at the Golden Temple in 1984 (including circumstances leading up to, and following, the violence there).

More importantly, it has reinforced my belief that uncovering the truth of the very human circumstances that lead to such violence can help us build bridges of understanding and hope for preventing such tragedies in the future. It is too easy to simply brand one's enemy as a terrorist, religious fanatic, or political extremist--but we must exert a bit more effort to see past such overly-simplistic labels--to see that our enemies are complex humans like ourselves, with many of the same hopes, values, concerns, fears, strengths and weaknesses.

Jesus called upon us to love our enemies, and this book, in my opinion, begins to uncover some of the difficulties and revelations one might encounter in such a pursuit. As with most worthwhile pursuits in life, such attempts at uncovering the truth beneath both sides of an issue can be a complex, difficult, even dangerous paths to tread, but ones that we must traverse if we truly seek peaceful resolution of conflicts between people, countries, religions and cultures now and in the future.

Mahmood treads this difficult path to uncover the human side of the Sikh militants, and in my opinion, succeeds admirably. To be fair, I'd like to read more accounts of the events at Amritsar, to gain a more complete perspective of the thoughts and feelings of all those involved. Because the Indian government apparently made great efforts to conceal the truth behind the events of 1984, it seems finding more books that do as well as Mahmood's at shedding light on the violence may be difficult. Hopefully I'll find more gems like this one. Highly recommended.