Sikh Material Heritage and Sikh Social Practice in a Museum-Community Partnership: The Smithsonian's Sikh Heritage Project

Abstract

Focusing on aspects of community involvement in the Smithsonian’s Sikh Heritage Project, which since its founding in 2000 has included an exhibition and many other public activities, this paper considers some differences in the conceptualization of what constitutes “heritage” as perceived by Sikh community members, museum staff, and the broader museum public. It also considers the negotiations that took place about how Sikh heritage should be represented, because at each venue, the exhibition provided an important space for local Sikh communities to debate and celebrate their traditions, and to introduce a broad non-Sikh public to a culture that many perceived as exotic and little-known. In this interaction, Sikh communities actively tried to learn from the “culture” of museums as well, especially in two areas: The first is finding effective methods for helping a broad public better understand the Sikhs who live among them. The second is the growing acceptance of museum approaches to care of valued objects. For this, communities helped send museum staff and conservators to India and into Sikh communities, advising on the many differences between traditional Sikh social practice in treatment of “heritage” objects, and museum methods that would ensure their physical survival for much longer.