Rachel Harris wins 2022 BFE Book Prize

21 June 2022

Huge congratuations to Professor Rachel Harris , who has been awarded the 2022 BFE Book Prize for her book Soundscapes of Uygur Islam . This book represents a multi-sited ethnography of ‘densely layered, heterophonic and often mediated’ soundscapes with reference to Sufi Muslims who live both within and outside of the highly contested Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China.

Courageous, timely and keenly observed, the author draws history, politics and religion into a richly textured ethnomusicological study about shifting gendered soundscapes of agency, subjectivity, representation and power. The prize panel found this monograph to be "a beautifully written and deeply persuasive book", with three independent judges agreeing unanimously that the submission should be awarded the prize. To find out more about Rachel's award, visit the BFE website .