Crossing Cultures

In a visit to Novellara, Italy, last summer, our host Eleanor Paynter and guest host Elena Bellina learned about the community of Sikh Indians who began migrating to the area in the 1980s. The Sikhs are one of more than 50 different immigrant communities among the town's residents, but they've played an important role in shaping the region. As you'll hear in this episode, the story of this community is one about the search for stability, building and sustaining a sense of home in a new place, and the crossing of cultures.

Our guests are Iqbal Singh, vice president of the town's gurdwara, Elena Carletti, the mayor of Novellara, and Barbara Bertolani, a sociologist studying Sikh communities in Italy.

• Elena Carletti
• Barbara Bertolani
• Gurdwara Singh Sabha in NovellaraNovellara, Italy"Attending Houses of Worship as Homes Out of the Home" by Barbara Bertolani and Sara Bonfanti
• Novellara photo project by Jai Toor
• Movement to have Sikhism Formally Recognized by the Italian State (in Italian)
• Coverage of the 2023 Nagar Kirtan Celebrations (in Italian)

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