Dr William Rees Hofmann’s research explores the connected textual and musical traditions of Nizārī Ismā‘īlī, Sufi, and Bhakti devotion in early modern Gujarat, Rajasthan, and the Deccan, as well as histories of musical knowledge in South Asia and larger histories of emotion and the senses. His work also attends to questions of labour and caste in the production of scientific knowledge.
He has published on the musical epistemologies and Afghan biographies of the poet-musician ī(pl. umarāʾ) Arabic lit. a prince, a commander, or a leader. In early Muslim history, the word amīr referred to an army commander. During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the… Ḳhusraw, and the construction of Hindustani music history in Mughal texts, and is currently completing a monograph, tentatively titled ī Ḳhusraw and Sufi Ecologies of Song: South Asian Musical Traditions from the Sultanate to Early Mughal Period, under contract with EUP.
Dr Hofmann’s current research projects include an investigation of literary traditions relating to expressions of devotion to Imam ‘Alī amongst Chishtī and Qādirī Sufis in Delhi, Gujarat, and the Deccan, and a project exploring the production and circulation of devotional music and literature between Sufi, Dādūpanthī, and Satpanth and Sayyidḳhānī Ismā‘īlī communities.
William is also a multi-instrumentalist and composer specialising in both the Indian Sarod and the Afghan Rubab, and is the director of Ensemble Ḳhusrawi, an Indo-Persian musical ensemble.
