Dr. Inderjit Kaur

Biography

Inderjit Kaur is an ethnomusicologist and scholar of Sikh Studies specializing in South Asian musical cultures, with a focus on Sikh musical worship through analytical lenses of phenomenology, sound, and sensory studies. Holding a PhD in ethnomusicology and another in Agricultural Resource Economics from UC Berkeley, she switched her career from economics to music after receiving extensive training in vocal khyāl and Bharat Nātyam. Kaur's scholarly work seeks to illuminate indigenous epistemologies and forge decolonized research and pedagogy. Her research emphasizes an understanding of the musically engendered experience of meaning-making and the relationship between embodied aesthetics and ethics. With over a decade of research among diverse Sikh communities and a significant background in Sikh musical worship as an amateur singer, she critically engages with important terms in Sikh musical culture. Kaur has made significant contributions to the fields of musicology through her essays in prestigious journals and is currently working on a monograph for Oxford University Press. She teaches undergraduate courses on North Indian classical music and Bollywood song and graduate seminars on musical cultures through phenomenological, affective, and sensory perspectives. Kaur actively welcomes students interested in South Asian expressive culture.

Research Interests

Experience