Associate Professor Dr. Shundana Yusaf will present on Sound, Space, and Gender in South Asian Sufi Shrines on Tuesday, April 18th, at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This semester, Prof. Yusaf is serving as one of the Clark Institute’s Research and Academic Fellows.
Prof. Yusaf’s research focuses on colonial and postcolonial approaches to writing history with sound and media studies in architecture, and this invited talk will be based on her latest research that will soon be published in her third book, titled The Resonant Tomb: A Feminist History of Sufi Shrines in Pakistan. This publicly open presentation will focus on the culturally significant role of a nightly ritual dance and drumming at the tomb of Lal Shahbaz Marwandi, located in Sehwan, Pakistan, which is primarily participated by women, and which has been practiced for almost 750 years. It will emphasize the significance of sound and use of space in restructuring the function of a religious shrine as a feminist crossroad.
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