Truth Sikh(ing) through the dance of chardi kala: tracing embodied pul(l)sations across the generations

This dissertation by publication follows the resonant rhythms of my doctoral journey and its arts-based and de/colonizing formations as my body, my trusted teacher, generatively leads me to reconnect with and center Punjabi-Sikh knowledges and lived experiences in my re-search. In privileging embodied knowledge and the integral role of the body within Punjabi-Sikh ontoepistemologies, I offer a sensuous and culturally congruent reformulation of the more conventional dissertation by publication, what I conceptualize as a dissertation by pul(l)sation. Through the palpable pulls and visceral tensions of my doctoral journey, my dissertation inquires with and from the emergent sensations of my storied body through three main arteries. The first artery of my dissertation by pul(l)sation focusses on the metaphorical function of the arteries in circulating nutrient-rich blood to the tissues and organs. This artery therefore uncovers the methodological and theoretical formations of my re-search journey as my body becomes nourished by arts-based practices of dancing, writing, and poeticizing, and de/colonizing provocations. The second and largest artery of my dissertation, the pulmonary artery, carries blood from the heart to the lungs as I gravitate toward and give voice to the paradigmatic possibilities of centering Punjabi-Sikh ontoepistemologies and genealogical lived realities in my re-search. This artery re-presents the vital ways in which I reconnect with and reimagine the role of Punjabi-Sikh knowledges through the Sikh sensibility of sunia, mania, and manu kita bhau, respectively meaning hearing and listening; embracing and remembering; and passionate and transformative loving. As such, I employ embodied and arts-based modalities of listening, re-membering, and loving as I dance with my past, present, and future self by revisiting five of my scholarly manuscripts and associated arts-based re-presentations. Finally, the third artery of my dissertation is not a conclusion or narrowing of my re-search, but rather, an opening, an expansion of my lungs through which my capillaries circulate oxygen throughout the body and release waste materials that no longer serve the body. As an invitation to my guests, I pose expansive questions about the potentialities of embodied and Punjabi-Sikh knowledges in the context of de/colonizing research, education, and health care.