| Resum: |
The recent immigration to the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) has brought a remarkable diversity in terms of religious affiliations and ethno-linguistic backgrounds of its resident population. In 2018, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the AMB was home to the individuals born in 120 different countries around the world. All immigrant groups have a tendency to reproduce their religious places at their new places of residence to perform their religious practices, and show their presence to the host society. The public exposure of immigrant groups on the one hand diversifies the human mosaic of the host countries, and on the other hand transforms the urban spaces through restructuring of the existing buildings or by giving them a meaning that converts secular spaces to sacred ones. As 'space' is a contested category, sometime the appropriation of urban space results in conflicts. These conflicts often lead to negotiations between the immigrant groups and the host community, often with the intervention of local authorities. Sikh community (a religious community from the north western state of India) makes a very small fraction of the total immigration flow to the AMB. During the last two decades, they have managed to produce a community space for themselves, which is an addition to the social fabric of the host society. Moreover, they have started to reproduce their religious places (Gurudwaras) and celebrate their religious processions and functions, which leads to some material and symbolic appropriation of urban space in the AMB. This appropriation of space is mostly ignored by the host society, but sometimes it also causes conflict with natives. These conflicts are mainly confined to the use of public spaces and negotiated by the local administration, which is now trying hard to accommodate different religious and social groups in limited urban space of the AMB. In this paper, with a qualitative research methodology, by focusing on the immigration and settlement pattern of Sikh community, the construction of Gurudwaras, and the celebration of religious functions and processions, I am going to analyse the process of the production of community space, reproduction of sacred spaces, and the temporary or long term appropriation of urban space by the Sikh community in the AMB and the negotiations involved in it. |
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