Abstract
The application of autoethnographic research as an investigative methodology in Sikh studies may appear relatively novel. Yet the systematic analysis in autoethnography of a person’s experience through reflexivity and connecting the personal story to the social, cultural, and political life has synergy with the Sikh sense-making process. Deliberation (vichhar) of an individual’s experience through the embodied wisdom of the Gurū (gurmat) connecting the lived experience to a greater knowing and awareness of the self is an established practice in Sikhi. This article explores autoethnography as a potential research method to give an academic voice to and capture the depth of the lived experiences of Sikhs: first, by articulating the main spaces of synergy of autoethnography with gurmat vichhar; second, discussing common themes such as inclusivity of disregarded voices, accessibility to knowledge creation, relational responsibility, and integrity in storytelling common to both autoethnography and gurmat vichhar. In conclusion, the autoethnographic approach has the means to illuminate nuances in understanding Sikhi that is transformative and familiar to the ancestral process of how Sikhs have made sense of themselves and the world around them.
Highlights
This essay aimed to evaluate the inherent subjective nature and flexibility of autoethnography as a potential methodology in Sikh Studies, in particular, in researching the lived experiences of Sikhs across the globe
The foregrounding of personal experience and use of reflexivity to unveil new understanding is common in autoethnography and Sikhi and would benefit further exploration
I have the skill, ability, and time to read, research, and ponder gurbani, and play and sing gurbani kirtan. All of these have made the lockdown transition only a minor glitch in the ‘matrix’, where, to my five senses, everything appears the same but I know something has shifted in the fabric that makes up my world. It is on this backdrop that I examined autoethnography as a research method and its synergy with researching Sikhi from the window of lived experience, defined here as the “personal knowledge about the world gained through direct, first-hand involvement in everyday events rather than through representations constructed by other people” (Chandler and Munday 2011)
Summary
This essay aimed to evaluate the inherent subjective nature and flexibility of autoethnography as a potential methodology in Sikh Studies, in particular, in researching the lived experiences of Sikhs across the globe. It prompted a review of the way in which nurturing a connection with myself and the Sikh teachings differed pre-lockdown in my home and in shared community spaces. My thoughts during this period were recorded in my journal and are shown as an extract below. I have the skill, ability, and time to read, research, and ponder gurbani, and play and sing gurbani kirtan All of these have made the lockdown transition only a minor glitch in the ‘matrix’, where, to my five senses, everything appears the same but I know something has shifted in the fabric that makes up my world
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