Devyani Bhosale joins MANTRAMS as a predoctoral researcher, bringing an interdisciplinary background in South Asian Studies with a focus on anthropology. She holds a Master's in Development Environment Societies and History in South Asia from Heidelberg University, Germany. She also holds a second master's in Social Work in Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. Her master's thesis explored the impact of anti-caste ideological discourse on the creation of popular prints and iconographies. Additionally, she has explored themes in South Asian art history and visual culture, with a particular focus on Dalit Neo-Buddhist popular practices in Maharashtra. Devyani’s research for MANTRAMS focuses on the role of sonic elements—such as mantras, chanting, greetings, and slogans—in the assertion of Dalit identity, visibility, and resistance in urban spaces of Western India. She will do so by revisiting physical spaces of cultural significance in the annual Dalit calanders such as Chaityabhumi in Mumbai, Deekshabhumi in Nagpur, and Mahad to name a few, and explore the intersection of religious sounds and spaces for Dalit Buddhists. Devyani’s research aims to understand how these sonic practices shape and transform both physical and social landscapes creating social agency and reasserting identities. It further investigates the interplay between the "religious" and "secular" in neo-Buddhist Dalit practices and explores how these auditory forms reshape urban spaces into sites of belonging and resistance. Additionally, by focusing on the marginalized voices of Dalit women, her research will also explore how sound, silence, and listening reclaim agency within male-dominated public soundscapes.
