معرفی
Davesh Soneji is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has held visiting positions at the Central University of Hyderabad and Le Centre d'Études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud in Paris, and is currently a Senior Research Scholar at Yale University's Institute for Sacred Music for 2023-24.
He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from McGill University.
Professor Soneji's research lies at the intersections of social and cultural history, religion, and anthropology, with a primary focus on South India. He is renowned for his work on religion and the performing arts, particularly the social history of professional female artists in Tamil and Telugu-speaking regions. His recent work spans the history of music in modern South India, including Tamil Islamic and Catholic music, Marathi kīrtan, Tamil theatre music, and Tamil diaspora sonic histories. He examines caste-based hierarchies of taste, Dalit sonicscapes, musical migration, and musical dispossession.
His notable awards include:
- 2013 Bernard S. Cohn Book Prize from The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) for Unfinished Gestures: Devadāsīs, Memory, and Modernity in South India
As a faculty member, Professor Soneji oversees graduate education and academic leadership as Department Chair, though specific details of current advisees and research grants are not provided in the source text. His editorial projects demonstrate significant scholarly engagement across South Asian musical traditions.
