Categories : Field-specific (academic)

Part 8/Chapter 33 of
Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam: Religious Learning between Continuity and Change (2 vols)
Editor: Sebastian Günther
Leiden: Brill, 2020
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Everyday Shi’ism in South Asia is an introduction to the everyday life and cultural memory of Shi’i women and men, focusing on the religious worlds of both individuals and communities at particular historical moments and places in the Indian subcontinent. Author Karen Ruffle draws upon an array primary sources, images, and ethnographic data to present topical case studies offering broad snapshots Shi’i life as well as microscopic analyses of ritual practices, material objects, architectural and artistic forms, and more.

Focusing exclusively on South Asian Shi’ism, an area mostly ignored by contemporary scholars who focus on the Arab lands of Iran and Iraq, the author shifts readers’ analytical focus from the center of Islam to its periphery. Ruffle provides new perspectives on the diverse ways that the Shi’a intersect with not only South Asian religious culture and history, but also the wider Islamic humanistic tradition. Written for an academic audience, yet accessible to general readers, this unique resource:

Explores Shi’i religious practice and the relationship between religious normativity and everyday religious life and material culture
Contextualizes Muharram rituals, public performances, festivals, vow-making, and material objects and practices of South Asian Shi’a
Draws from author’s studies and fieldwork throughout India and Pakistan, featuring numerous color photographs
Places Shi’i religious symbols, cultural values, and social systems in historical context
Includes an extended survey of scholarship on South Asian Shi’ism from the seventeenth century to the present.

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Séminaire de recherche « L’ismaélisme, une version ésotérique de l’islam » avec Daniel de Smet — En ligne, 13h-15h, 09/04/2021

The current online study day on Shi’ism in Europe is a unique opportunity for young and senior scholars to deliberate on each other’s concerns and research outcomes in a particular collaborative atmosphere. We are honored to contribute to this first online study day on Shi’ism in collaboration with some scholars motivated by the shared objective of mapping the research agenda on Shi’a studies in some European and Middle Eastern countries. These contributions will certainly help us understand the multiple ways in which Shi’ism evolve in the European and Middle Eastern contexts. We hope that this event will facilitate scientific exchange on the contemporary Shi’ism and introduce new research ideas and collaboration opportunities between scholars of this field of study.

The conference language is English. Each speaker will present his/her paper in 20-minutes, followed by 10 minutes Q&A.

For further information, click here.