Responding to Bullying: Language Socialization and Religious Identification in Classes for Sikh Youth

Abstract

Drawing from ethnography of communication and language socialization approaches, this paper examines classes on bullying held for Sikh middle school students at a Sikh religious institution in California. Sikh educational programs play an important role in socializing youth into Sikh teachings, practices, and community perspectives. Due to one practice in particular, wearing a dastaar (turban), some Sikh youth have been harassed by their non-Sikh peers. After discussing the significance of the dastaar in Sikh life, this paper analyzes interactions in classes on bullying in which Sikh youth enacted role-plays provided by the teachers. In the discussions that followed the role-plays, teachers and students evaluated the actions of the bullying victim and weighed the consequences of a wide range of interactional moves in reacting to harassment. Participants’ assessments of bullying-response strategies reveal the tensions and challenges that Sikh youth face in managing the process of religious identification in their everyday lives.