Shumaila Hemani

Shumaila Hemani, Ph.D. in Music and M.A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Alberta, is the former Music Faculty for Semester at Sea (SAS) Spring 2020 Voyage. Her research on Sufi sounds of the Shah jo Raag, mentored by Prof. Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, is situated at the intersection of religion, governance, and social justice at the Muslim shrines in Sindh, Pakistan. Hemani has received several awards, honours, and recognition for her academic and artistic contributions, including First Prize at the Society for Ethnomusicology Conference (2017), the Cultural Diversity Award (2015) Laura Bassi Scholarship (2018 and 2021), the State of Kuwait Award in Islamic Studies (2015), Frank Henderson Prize in the study of Women and Religion (2017), Maud Karpeles International travel award (2015), the Institute of Ismaili Studies graduate and doctoral award (2006-09/2012-17), and many others. She has published about Pakistani women's music in a historical context in the Women and Islamic Cultures (Brill, 2017). Her research monograph on Sufi performers in South Asia will be published by Routledge’s Islam and Human Rights series in 2022. Hemani is an Alberta-based Sufi singer-songwriter and acousmatic composer with two upcoming research-based albums: Mannat (a prayer, a wish) and Awakening, and has served as the Liaison Officer for Pakistan at the International Council for Traditional Music (2016-present).