History, Culture, Texts, and Spirituality
REL 6137 Sikhism
On September 2, 2026, the Université de Montréal will launch a graduate-level course on Sikhism, taught in French, offered as part of its Doctoral and Master’s-level curriculum.
This will be the first-ever graduate-level course on Sikhism taught in French anywhere in the world.
A few years ago, the Université de Montréal also introduced an undergraduate-level course on Sikhism in French, offered as part of its Bachelor’s-level curriculum. That course was likewise the first of its kind in the world.
These milestones represent an important step forward in the academic study of Sikhism and in making Sikh studies accessible to French-speaking students and scholars. Also, these courses create bridges for inter-religious and inter-cultural understandings.
Course Professor Dr. Diana Dimitova.
Fall 2026, Wednesdays from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
This graduate (Masters degree) course at the University of Montreal will offer an in-depth study of the Sikh tradition and its connections to the bhakti tradition. It will examine sacred texts as well as the rituals, doctrines, philosophy, and belief systems of Sikhism. It will discuss the impact of colonialism on the Sikh tradition and the post-colonial period, marked by conflicts and nationalist movements. It will also explore contemporary Sikhism in India and the diaspora, and how the Sikh tradition has been interpreted in popular films. The course will be taught in French. Students can do all exams and papers in French or in English. The class begins on September 2nd.
Diana Dimitrova is a Full Professor of South Asian Traditions and Cultures at the University of Montreal and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She was awarded a Ph.D. in South Asian Studies from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and has been a Visiting Scholar at McGill University in Canada, the University of Miami in the USA, KU Leuven, Université de Liège and Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, EHESS Paris in France, and the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
She is interested in questions of cultural identity, nationalism, discourses of otherness and South Asian perspectives on the body. Her recent publications include Cultural Identity in Hindi Plays: Poetic, Politics and Theatre in India (Oxford University Press, 2023) and the edited volume Mythologizing in South Asian Traditions: Myth, Gender, Power and Politics (Palgrave Macmillan 2025). Her current research project deals with the Brahma Kumari Tradition in Canada and the United States.
Diana Dimitrova has served as President and Past President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion. As Series Co-editor of the Series "Matière à pensée", published by the University of Montreal Press, she was a member of the Executive Board of the Canadian Corporation for Religious Studies. She is currently serving as Series Editor of the Routledge Series on South Asian Culture and Society, and a Series Editor of the Series Culture, Religion and Society, published by DeGruyter-Brill.