As recent studies suggest, religious institutions play a crucial role in shaping immigrants' identities. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Helsinki, Finland among Sikh immigrants from Northern India, this article sets out to investigate the manner in which the gurdwara (Sikh temple) is involved in the process of negotiating, maintaining and transmitting immigrants' identities. By means of mapping out and analyzing the gurdwara's architectural as well as organizational structure, its foodways, and its role in transmitting religious as well as cultural traditions to Sikh youth, this article seeks to highlight the complex process underlying the (re-)creation of immigrants' identities in a diasporic context. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

youth transmission Food Sikh Temple Immigrant Identity Religion

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