Sikh Identity and Practice: Adaptation, Resistance, and Agentic Assimilation

Drawing from thirty-seven in-depth interviews, this paper examines how Sikhs make sense of their religious identity and practice in the context of the US as both a demographic minority and a minoritized faith. Although undertheorized by scholars, processes of religious minoritization can influence not only how Sikhs practice their faith, but also how they engage with the broader society. Further, it compares two Sikh communities to study these themes: a community of Indian Sikhs in the US and a community of people who converted to the Sikh faith and are part of a New Religious Movement known as 3HO/Sikh Dharma. Through this comparison, this paper considers how different Sikh communities make sense of the Sikh faith, engaging in a reinterpretation of Sikhi situated in the cultural and structural context of the US through a multifaceted process of agentic assimilation that adapts, and sometimes resists adapting, to U.S. socio-cultural mores.