معرفی
Rachel Harris is Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director of Doctoral Studies at the Department of Music, School of Arts, SOAS University of London. With over twenty years of experience in teaching and doctoral supervision, she has established herself as a leading scholar in the field of ethnomusicology with a particular focus on China and Central Asia.
Harris holds a BA from Oxford University, an MMus, and a PhD from London. Her academic journey has led her to become a prominent voice in the study of musical traditions across cultural and political boundaries.
Professor Harris's research centers on the Uyghur people of China's Xinjiang region and Central Asia, with particular attention to maqam traditions, intangible cultural heritage, music and Islam, soundscapes, and state projects of territorialization. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan over a twenty-year period. Her current ERC-funded project "Maqām Beyond Nation" examines maqām-based music-making across Central Asia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, tracing histories of connection, contemporary border-crossing initiatives, and music in forced migration contexts. She previously led the AHRC-funded "Sounding Islam in China" project and the British Academy-supported "Uyghur Meshrep Project," which documented expressive culture among Uyghur communities in Kazakhstan.
Harris's publications reveal a consistent focus on the intersection of music, religion, and politics in Chinese Central Asia. Her work demonstrates how sound functions as a key medium for understanding faith, religious change, political tensions, and violence, particularly in the context of Uyghur Islamic revival. She has explored topics ranging from Qur'anic recitation and religious gatherings to the globalization of Uyghur pop music and digital mediation of religious practices.
Professor Harris has supervised numerous PhD students whose research spans diverse topics from Anglophone music in Calcutta to military bands in postcolonial Singapore. She has secured significant research funding including an ERC Advanced Grant, AHRC network funding, Leverhulme Research Project funding, and British Academy Sustainable Development Fund support.
Her research is often conducted in collaboration with communities and researchers across borders, emphasizing applied ethnomusicology through concerts, workshops, and recording projects that aim to document and revitalize musical traditions while promoting sustainable development.
