Dr. Kamala Elizabeth Nayar
RN (Vanier College), BA (McGill), PhD (McGill)
Kamala Elizabeth Nayar was born in Montreal, Quebec of parents of South Asian and American origin. Although she has spent most of her life in Canada, Nayar has also resided in India for extensive periods of time. She received her R.N. license in 1988 and worked as a health care service provider in Montreal and Greater Vancouver until 2004.
Nayar was awarded, with First Class Honours, a B.A. degree in Religious Studies in Fall 1991 at McGill University. She received a Ph.D. in South Asian religions from McGill University in June 1999. Upon graduation, she was granted a two-year post-doctoral fellowship by the Quebec Research Council, which she utilized while affiliated with the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria. She has been teaching at KPU since 2001. Nayar has been awarded many research grants and held the KPU Chancellor's Research Chair from 2011 to -2014.
Courses taught
- ASIA 1111: Religions of India
- ASIA 2210: Happiness and Wellbeing in Indian Religions
- ASIA 2240: Sikh Gurus and their Teachings
- ASIA/LANC 2252: Indian Society through Popular Cinema
- ASIA/SOCI 2290: South Asians around the Globe
- ASIA 3130: Sikh Religion, Culture, and Society
- ASIA 3252: Bollywood and Contemporary India
- ASIA 3255: Gender in South Asia
- ASIA 4350: Asian Communities in Canada
- ASIA 4499 (Selected Topics): Indian Sexuality and Spirituality
Areas of Interest
South Asian Religions, Hinduism, Sikhism
South Asian Diaspora, Punjabis in Canada, Intercultural relations
Gender in South Asian film and society
Scholarly Work
- BOOKS
- Kamala Elizabeth Nayar and Jaswinder Sandhu. The Sikh View on Happiness: Guru Arjan's Sukhmani. London: Bloomsbury Academics, 2020.
- The Punjabis in British Columbia: Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University, 2012.
- Kamala Elizabeth Nayar and Jaswinder Sandhu. The Socially Involved Renunciate: Guru Nanak's Discourse to the Nath Yogis. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2007.
- The Sikh Diaspora in Vancouver: Three Generations amid Tradition, Modernity, and Multiculturalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.
- Hayagriva in South India: Complexity and Selectivity of a Pan-Indian Hindu Deity. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
- BOOK CHAPTERS
- “Punjabi Migration to Northwestern British Columbia: Labour and the First Nations.” In India Migration Report, ed. S. Irudaya Rajan. New Delhi: Routledge, 2024:
- “Generation Gap in the Diaspora.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Sikhism Volume II, eds. Knut A. Jacobsen, Anshu Malhotra, Kristina Myrvold and Eleanor Nesbitt. Leiden: Brill Academic, 2023:
- “The Intersection of Religious Identity and Visible Minority Status: The Case of Sikh Youth in British Columbia.” In Religion in the Public Sphere: Canadian Case Studies, eds. Solange Lefebvre and Lori G. Beaman. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014: 219-236.
- “Religion, Resiliency and Citizenship: The Journey of a Vancouver Sikh Pioneer.” In Sikh Diaspora: Theory, Agency, and Experience (Numen Book Series vol. 144), ed. Michael Hawley. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2013: 103-127.
- “Punjabi Extended Family Home Care: A Case Study.” In Religious Understandings for a ‘Good Death’ in Hospice Care, Harold Coward and Kelli Stajduhar, eds. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2012: 211-230.
- “The Making of Sikh Space: The Role of the Gurdwara.” In Asian Religions in British Columbia, Dan Overmyer, Don Baker and Larry DeVries, eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2010: 43-63.
- “Sikh Women in Vancouver: An Analysis of their Psychosocial Issues.” In Sikhism and Women, Doris Jakobsh, ed. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010: 248-70.
- JOURNAL ARTICLES
- Kamala Elizabeth Nayar and ‘Liyaa’mlaxha. “The Journey of a Ts'msyn Residential School Survivor: Resiliency and Healing in Multi-Ethnic Milieus,” BC Studies, no. 183 (Autumn 2014): 63-87.
- “Misunderstood in the diaspora: The experience of orthodox Sikhs in Vancouver,” Sikh Formations (Taylor&Francis), vol. 4, no. 1 (2008), 17-32.
- Jaswinder S. Sandhu and Kamala Nayar. “Studying the Sikh diaspora: First year university experience of Punjabi Sikh students,” Sikh Formations (Taylor&Francis), vol. 4, no. 1 (2008), 33-46.
- Kamala Elizabeth Nayar and Jaswinder S. Sandhu. “Intergenerational Communication in Immigrant Punjabi Families: Implications for Helping Professionals,” International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, vol. 28, no. 2 (2006), 139-152.