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.

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

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.

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.

• 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

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. 11^th2007.]  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

• Jagbir Jhutti-Johal. 2018. Mental Health-The Sikh Dharam (Faith) and Punjabi Cultural Perspectives. In British Sikh Report 2018. 
• Jagbir Jhutti-Johal, 2017. Sikh Dharam – Gender Equality, Cultural Change And‘Breaking Glass Ceilings’. In British Sikh Report 2017.

Blogs 

• Research on the Sikh community in the UK is essential to better inform policy, but surveys must be improved 
• Origins of Sikhism
• Religious authority
• The rise of social media and new cultures and strategies
• The problems and challenges going forward
• 'One size fits all' approach to mental health doesn't work for BAME communities
• Sikh ethnic tick box in the 2021 Census and a question about research and methodology

Presentations

• Hosted for the Commission on Religion and Belief the National Hearing for the Youth 26^th February 2015
• ESITIS conference in 2015 Lublin / Poland (April 15 – 18) Theme: Shifting Locations – Reshaping Methods  - How New Fields of Research in Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies Elicit Methodological Extension. Presented paper on:  Methodology in Lived Religion: Sikhs and Marriage