The concept of shauq or shauk connotes a passionate interest, galvanising individuals across South Asia to devote time, energy and resources beyond their expected social roles and towards particular chosen activities. This essay explores explications of shauq encountered in the course of field research on men’s pigeon flying in Pakistan and village women’s singing in India, situating insights from the field amid available scholarly literature on shauq. Shauq can make fieldwork the arena for a spirited transmission of knowledge. We explore how people express the well-being emerging from shauq, the sociality of shared interest, and why shauq can be dangerous.

Inspirational Texts:

Kumar, Nita. 1988. The Artisans of Banaras: Popular Culture and Identity, 1880-1986. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Narayan, Kirin. 2016. Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.