The Punjabi singer, Diljit Dosanjh, has become a global icon for promoting his cultural heritage on the world stage. He received global recognition for his 2025 Met Gala look, Dil-Luminati World Tour (2024), collaborations with singers worldwide, including Sia, Ed Sheeran, and Jackson Wang, and Coachella (2023) performance. Recently, he bagged International Emmy Awards 2025 nomination for his titular role in Amar Singh Chamkila. Diljit consistently maintains a regional approach to his music, often highlighting his cultural identity through performance attire, the ever-presence of Sikh turban and his popular slogan, "Punjabi Aa Gye Oye!" (translated- Punjabis have arrived!). Simultaneously, Diljit’s music is spiritual in nature, often praising the Sikh Gurus and Gurbani, integrating another dimension to his appeal. The intersection of multiple identities - of a global icon, a culture representative, and a Sikh – makes Diljit Dosanjh a case where local is deeply embedded in the global. Thus, I utilize Diljit Dosanjh as a case study to explore how local culture and identity are integrated in the global-popular, while still maintaining the local, grounded in the theoretical constructs of identity, globalization, and glocalization. Reading "celebrities as texts" rooted in the conceptual understanding of celebrities as representation and cultural formation, them being "fundamentally intertextual" who can "function as paratexts", I critically analyzed Diljit’s select music videos, live-concert performances, social media texts and interviews. It is evident through Diljit’s intertextuality that his cultural and Sikh identity is fundamental to his content, whether local or global.

Authors:
Jasdeep Kaur Chandi, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, India

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Chandi is a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India. She is working on a project that explores the relationship between sacred scriptures and well-being in the specific contexts of different knowledge systems.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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