Author: Dr. Sara Grewal (grewals42@macewan.ca)
Professor at MacEwan University
This semester, I taught a course at MacEwan University called “The Brampton Renaissance”—a term I came up with to describe the flowering of Sikh artistic and cultural activity coming out of Brampton over the past 15 years.
The premise of the class was relatively simple: Brampton continues to gain recognition as a global center for Sikh cultural production—particularly in the music industry. What are the factors that have led to Brampton achieving this central place in Sikh cultural life?
To answer this question, we looked at a relatively limited selection of artists and figures: Amrit Singh (‘Noyz’), Fateh, Zoo Babies, JusReign, Lilly Singh, Jagmeet Singh, Rupi Kaur, Humble the Poet, and Sikh Knowledge. We also watched the documentary film Uproar (dir. Steeven Toor and Amrit Thind) and engaged with some articles from the Brampton-based Sikh news outlet Baaz.
To interpret and contextualize these works, we examined the various frames that shape Sikh experiences and cultural production in Brampton: the nation (Canada, India); the local (Brampton/Toronto, various villages and cities in Punjab); race and racialization; religion; ethnicity; gender.
To properly understand why this class was so meaningful, though, I want to share a bit about our own local and institutional contexts. MacEwan is a small, downtown, teaching-focused university in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Both domestic and international Sikhs are a sizeable portion of the student population; however, very few students in the English department, where I am an Associate Professor in Postcolonial Literature, are Sikh, and in fact most are White.
As a literary scholar of South Asia focusing on literatures of minoritized and racialized groups (Muslims in India; Sikhs in Canada), then, it’s crucial for me as an instructor to provide my students with an understanding of racialization, White supremacy, and global politics so that my students from a wide variety of backgrounds can understand both the sociohistorical contexts that inform the literary texts that we study, as well as their own positionality in these dynamics. Thus, while our class focused on Sikh artists in Brampton, we very often found ourselves responding to their work by reflecting on our own lives and experiences in Edmonton.
The Brampton Renaissance Class was unique because it was small—only six students of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds—and because the seemingly simple premise (“Let’s watch some JusReign videos!”) quickly transformed into a deep-dive into the White supremacist underpinnings of Canadian multiculturalism, the religio-racialization of Sikhs from colonial India to contemporary North America, and theories of diaspora- and religion-making. Though our class took place entirely online (and at 8am!), we created a space to connect, discuss, analyze, vent, share, and ultimately grow as intellectuals and as people. So I’m proud to share some of my students’ thoughtful and interesting work in the series of three blog posts that follow—but first, as a bit of a teaser, I’d like to share my students’ reflections from their final exams about how we might define the Brampton Renaissance:
Michael Kramer, whose blog post analyzes rapper Noyz’s song “Common Thread,” from the album that accompanied his memoir (both titled Keep Moving On), writes: “The Brampton Renaissance was a period of exceptional artistic and political production in the Sikh community in Brampton, Ontario. It was catalyzed by the interpersonal relationship of Sikh youth there, who collaborated to produce high-quality content at a time when social media was new and an untested space. Something that I believe is still evolving about the Brampton Renaissance is its position in relation to Canadian multiculturalism. In many ways, much of the content produced in it is exemplary of stereotypical mosaic multiculturalism (“Look at this minority group that is doing things that are fun and ethnic!”). But the nature of the Brampton Renaissance was that it operated entirely without the permission of the colonial state. While it was never explicitly suppressed by the government (at least to my knowledge) it also never needed to get permission to operate. This component of the Brampton Renaissance is because it circumvents conventional power structures to influence people. It is not a cure-all, but anything that positively subverts white supremacist systems is worth taking note of, in my opinion.”
Feven Worede, whose blog post analyzes Noyz’s memoir together with several of his rap songs, writes of the Brampton Renaissance: “I’ve recognized that many of these creators within this movement have formerly been rejected by white mainstream artistic spaces and as a result, have created their own avenues and platforms of artistic expression that are not owned or controlled by capitalist institutions. The movement is defined by this DIY philosophy that is seemingly uninterested in institutional support or backing. I’d also argue that the movement is quite radical in the sense that it features artists and cultural contributors who have rejected cultural expectations of securing a “normal” white collared job and instead, have opted to pursue artistic avenues of self-expression and social/political activism that is far less stable. The movement is also rooted in community collaboration. Many of the figures we’ve studied have worked together and shared resources and tools in order to achieve collective success. […] These creators often collaborate and support one another; they usually do not have access to wealth, privilege, or power so they must use the resources they have available to them and share it amongst themselves, often outreaching for collaboration within the Panjabi Sikh Brampton community. Lastly, I’d argue that the movement is defined by this tension between “selling out” to achieve mainstream success and maintaining authenticity. While many contributors own their means of production, many are giving up control of their art and agency for economic gain, fame, or a mainstream political presence. In sum, The Brampton Renaissance is a movement where Panjabi Sikh artists and creators publicly share their personal experiences as a racialized person growing up in Canada through artistic or creative means, often advocating for social and political change both in Punjab and in Canada.”
Kassandra Ogilvie, whose blog post discusses the secularism, Canadian multiculturalism, and religio-racialization in the documentary film Uproar, writes: “[The Brampton Renaissance] is art that comes from a place of wanting to be heard and listened to. The Brampton Renaissance is also the politics that erupted from around this time. The Brampton Renaissance could also just mean a large group of people who were tired of being spoken over and wanted to have their voices heard and be able to tell their stories without some white dude trying to police their stories for them. On another hand, I kind of want to spend some time talking about why it should be called a renaissance as a whole and why I agree with the title. Renaissance means rebirth, and it can also mean a revival. In my head, what this means for the Brampton Renaissance is that it’s a revival of the history that has led up to this point. It means no longer trying to forget the past but aiming to do better in the future. It also means acknowledging how the past can help us grow. And I guess this works as a metaphor for our entire class, because honestly I feel like all we’ve been doing this semester is growing and learning. By witnessing other people experience a rebirth, we’re also able to learn more about ourselves. All of this to say, I guess the term Brampton Renaissance to me is indicative of an era of change that can lead to enlightenment.”
These students’ remarkable observations on the Brampton Renaissance are indicative of the incisive analysis skills and keen insight that they bring to the literary texts that they explore in their own posts. I hope you learn as much from their work as I have.