**Narinder Kaur-Bring**

Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY, UK; n.k.bring@wlv.ac.uk

Received: 16 November 2020; Accepted: 16 December 2020; Published: 19 December 2020

**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 Guru (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 gurma<sup>t</sup> 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 gurma<sup>t</sup> 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.

**Keywords:** Sikh; autoethnography; lived experience; reflexivity; gurmat; diaspora; pandemic
