{"product_id":"communities-of-sound-religion-displacement-and-caste-in-the-bay-of-bengal-paperback","title":"Communities of Sound: Religion, Displacement, and Caste in the Bay of Bengal - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCarola E. Lorea\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSounding untouchability across postcolonial borders\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCommunities of Sound\u003c\/i\u003e brings together insights from religion, anthropology, sound, and migration studies to explore the sonic traces of untouchability and forced migration across the Bay of Bengal. Based on an immersive, multi-sited ethnography with Matua devotees--a low-caste, Bengali-speaking Dalit religious community fragmented by Partition, war, and postcolonial displacement--the book explores how sound sustains identity across fractured geographies. Using richly detailed descriptions, the book follows traveling archives of song, story, and ritual performance through West Bengal, Bangladesh, and the Andaman Islands. These sonic practices--congregational singing, drumming, and itinerant storytelling--forge belonging beyond nation-states, connecting the Matua's fifty million members across borders and seas. In a world dominated by visual culture, \u003ci\u003eCommunities of Sound\u003c\/i\u003e centers listening as a mode of knowledge and care, revealing how sound shapes our sense of self and cosmos. More than scriptures or doctrine, it is sound--entangled with authority and power--that binds this transregional Dalit movement and animates its collective action. The book is generously illustrated and references an online companion with video and audio examples.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCAROLA E. LOREA is junior professor for the study of religions at the University of Tübingen, Germany, where she leads the ERC-funded project MANTRAMS: Mantras in Religion, Media, and Society in Global Southern Asia. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eFolklore, Religion and the Songs of a Bengali Madman\u003c\/i\u003e (2016), and editor with Rosalind Hackett of \u003ci\u003eReligious Sounds Beyond the Global North: Senses, Media and Power \u003c\/i\u003e(2024).\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 474\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.28 x 8.89 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 07, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42769751998560,"sku":"9780819502247","price":43.23,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0598\/1922\/9280\/files\/GMG0SKk4KE9780819502247.webp?v=1779699243","url":"https:\/\/bijoucc.myshopify.com\/products\/communities-of-sound-religion-displacement-and-caste-in-the-bay-of-bengal-paperback","provider":"CARIBBEAN CONNECT","version":"1.0","type":"link"}