A threshold of possibility: Sikh intimacies as a relational framework

This essay shares revised remarks made at the 2025 opening symposium surrounding the Impossible Conversations installation in Ann Arbor. I think about the thresholds of possibility that are marked in the film's both subtle and overt commentaries on racist and white supremacist violence in the US, particularly through the lessons offered through Sikh onto-epistemes. I ground these comments in an overview of the transformation of US-based Sikh advocacy work over the last decade or so, based on prior work, as well as a discussion of possible new approaches to Sikh identity formation and relationality toward which the film guides viewers.