Dr Jagbir Jhutti-Johal BA (UCL), DPhil (Oxford)

Photograph of Dr Jagbir Jhutti-Johal

Department of Theology and Religion
Senior Lecturer in Sikh Studies

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 58338
Email
j.jhuttijohal.1@bham.ac.uk
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I’ve been a lecturer at the University of Birmingham since 2002. My research encompasses a range of related topics in Sikh Studies, such as gender and Sikhism, science and Sikhism and contemporary Sikhism.

On the teaching side, I teach Introduction to Sikhism (second-year undergraduate); Placement Module (second–year undergraduate); and an MPhil(B) course on Sikh Studies, MA in Religion Politics and Society; and I’m supervising PhD theses on Sikhs and Identity, and an Historical account of the development of the Gurdwara Act 1925.

I am a Board member - ‘The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies’

I was a Commissioner on the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life: community, diversity and the common good) convened by The Woolf Institute, Cambridge (2013-15)

I was a Working Group Member on the Family Justice Council’s Domestic Violence Working Group, and an Advisory Member for the West Midlands Area Ethnic Community Engagement Board

Biography

I studied in the Department of Anthropology and History at University College London where I completed my undergraduate degree in Ancient History and Social Anthropology.  I then went to Oxford University where I completed my DPhil in Social Anthropology entitled A study of changes in marriage practices among the Sikhs of Britain.

Before coming to Birmingham in 2002, I was working at the University of Oxford has a Research Assistant on a project commisioned by the Department of Constitutional Affairs (now Ministry of Justice) looking at public law proceedings concerned with the care and protection of children focusing, in particular, on race and ethnicity in the Family Justice System.

Teaching

Undergraduate:

  • Introduction to Sikhism
  • Placement Module
  • Religion in Contemporary Society

Postgraduate:

  • Sikh perspectives on interreligious relations
  • Contemporary issues in Sikh Studies
  • Religion in Contemporary Global Politics 1
  • Religion in Contemporary Global Politics 2

Programme Convenor

MRes in Sikh Studies

Postgraduate supervision

I am happy to supervise in a range of topics:

  • Sikh Studies
  • Ethnic Minorities, Religion and Law
  • South Asian Diasporas
  • Gender Studies
  • Religion in Contemporary Society

Find out more - our PhD Theology and Religion  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

My main research area is Contemporary Sikhism. This includes:

  • Sikhs and the Law, especially with reference to the impact on identity
  • Gender Studies and Sikhism focusing on geneder inequality and issues such as female feoticide and domestic violence
  • Sikhism and Science, especially questions about scientific advances in reproductive technologies, cloning and genetic engineering, but also how the body is viewed, especially within Sikhism.

Other activities

  • Appointed Commissioner on the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life: community, diversity and the common good) convened by The Woolf Institute, Cambridge (2013-15)
  • Board member - ‘The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies’
  • Faith Advisor for the Faith in Birmingham Gallery Exhibition
  • Hosting Panel discussion for Women’s International Day 8th March 2018 for the ‘Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond’ series
  • Auckland Castle Faith Galleries Advisory Panel (County Durham)
  • West Midlands Area Ethnic Community Engagement Board Advisory Member
  • Advised ETAC(Equal Treatment Advisory Committee) in terms of training needs for judges
  • Family Justice Council Domestic Violence Working Group Was Working Group Member
  • To consider and provide advice to the Family Justice Council on domestic violence issues arising in the family justice system

Publications

Books

  • Sikhism Today 2011 Continuum Press:  London

Book chapters

  • ‘Sikh Dharma’, in Veena R. Howard and Rita D. Sherma (eds.), Dharma: The Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh Traditions of India. London: I.B Tauris. 2017  (Awarded the Dharma Academy of North America Takshashila Rajinder and Jyoti Gandhi Book Award for Excellence in Dharma Studies for 2017)

  • How Parties to Sikh Marriages use and are influenced by the Norms of their religion and culture when engaging with mediation.  In M MacLean and John Eeklaar Managing Family Justice in Diverse Societies. Oxford: Hart Publishing 2013. Pp. 203-219.
  • Sikhism and mental illness:  negotiating competing cultures in D. Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning. Netherlands: Brill 2012.  Pp. 235-55.
  • The Role of Women in their Religious Institutions: A Contemporary Account. In Sikhism and Women: History, Texts and Experience. (ed) Doris Jakobsch. Oxford University press: India May 2010
  • What Makes a Good City: A Sikh perspective? What Makes a Good City? University of Birmingham Press. [Edited collection of papers for the Midlands Faiths for the Cityevent held in the Great Hall, University of Birmingham, Sept. 11th2007.]  pp.46-52.
  • ‘Ethnic and Cultural diversity in the Indian Subcontinent’ (with A Gumber and P.S.Gill) in Genetic Disorders among People from the Indian Subcontinent, edited by Dhavendra Kumar. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2005
  • ‘The Sikh Grand Narrative’ (with S.S.Johal), in Palliative Care amongst South Asians, edited by A.R.Gatrad et al. Quay Books, 2005.
  • ‘Dowry among Sikhs in Britain’, in South Asians and the Dowry Problem, edited by Werner Menski. Trentham Books, 1998.

Journals

  • ‘Understanding and Coping with Diversity in Healthcare’. In Health Care Analysis 21.3 (2013): 259-270.
  • ‘Sikh Birth Customs’ (with A.R.Gatrad., P.S. Gill, and A. Sheikh), in Archives of Diseases in Childhood 2005.
  • ‘Assessing and documenting child ill-treatment in minority ethnic households’ (with Julia Brophy and C Owen) in Family Law 2003, pp 756-764.

Official reports

  • ‘Minority ethnic parents, their solicitors and child protection litigation’(with Julia Brophy and Eleanor McDonald. London: Department of Constitutional Affairs Research Series 5/05. 2005.
  • ‘Significant Harm: Child Protection in a Multicultural Setting’ (with Julia Brophy and Charlie Owen). London: Lord Chancellor's Department, 2003

Additional articles

Blogs 

Presentations

Expertise

Sikhism and Society

Sikhs and the Law, especially with reference to the impact on identity

Gender Studies and the Sikh faith, focusing on gender equality/inequality and issues such as female feoticide and honour violence

Sikhism and Science, especially questions about scientific advances in reproductive technologies, cloning and genetic engineering, but also how mental health and how the body is viewed

Sikhs and education

The growth of Sikh Faith Schools