Inside Sikh Studies, Empire & How Religion Gets Misunderstood | Professor Eleanor Nesbitt

Religion at school always felt too neat. Boxes. Definitions. “This is what Sikhs believe.” But real life is never that tidy.

In this episode, I sit down with Professor Eleanor Nesbitt, Emeritus Professor of Religions and Education at the University of Warwick, co-founder of the Punjab Research Group and author of Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction, to explore what the textbooks miss.

We talk about why lived religion rarely fits a single definition, and how Sikh, Hindu and Punjabi families often practice differently, even within the same household. We also discuss the limits and failures of GCSE-style Religious Education, and what Britain looked like after Empire during the first waves of migration.

Professor Nesbitt reflects on what she learned while teaching in India in the 1970s, and on the emergence of Sikh Studies as an academic field in the UK. We also explore where academic research still struggles, why open debate matters, and the gaps that future scholars still need to fill.

Along the way, she shares the story of how one pen friend changed the course of her life.