RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Manipuri Dance Visions archives has numerous books, unpublished manuscripts and over 80 hours of recordings of temple rituals in dance and music from Manipur. We always welcome scholars and artists to watch our collections, and any researcher is always welcome to consult Dr. Ray.
Like many things in her life, Sohini Ray’s initial research training began with her dance-guru, Guru Bipin Singh at the early age of fifteen when she was a student of ninth grade. Guruji spotted her potential and appointed her his copywriter and research assistant. She was trained in studying padavalis in archaic Bengali and Sanskrit at this time. While in college, Sohini continued working with her Guru on his research projects like the Vaishnav Sangeet Shastra, and co-wrote with her Guru a book manuscript (yet unpublished) titled ‘Misconceptions in Manipuri dance’.
Inspired by her guru Sohini chose her research career in Manipur. As a student of anthropology in Calcutta University she started doing fieldwork in villages in Manipur and her master’s research thesis was entitled ‘Society and dance: an anthropological overview of the Meiteis in Manipur’. She started learning Meitei language in the process of doing field-work in the rural areas of Manipur.
Later she pursued her M.A. in dance when her thesis was entitled – Meetei revivalism and Manipuri dance. It is an exploration on the anti-Hindu revival of the ancient Meitei religion and its influences on the Manipuri performing arts. She did her Ph.D. in linguistic anthropology in the anthropology department of University of California at Los Angeles, and her Ph.D. research was on Meitei mayek the ancient Meitei writing system. She spent eighteen months doing fieldwork in Manipur when she studied the ancient writing system and learnt to read puyas, the ancient manuscripts written in Meitei script. As a lecturer of anthropology in University of California, Irvine she started a post-doctoral research project on hand-gestures in Manipuri dance, and plans to continue her research on dance.
Aside from her performing career Sohini has a brilliant academic career as she stood first, along with obtaining first class in the University of Calcutta in both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She has held prestigious fellowships and grants among which are post-doctoral/faculty fellowship in the Center for the Study of world Religions, Harvard University and faculty fellowship in the University of California Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine. Widely respected as an authority on Manipuri performing arts her writings have appeared in many prestigious journals and encyclopedias.