Friday, November 16, 1:00 PM–5:00 PM

McCormick Place North – 136

Gordon Newby, Emory University, and Kristian Petersen, University of Washington, Presiding

Scholarship in Islamic studies has traditionally shown a preference for reliance on written sources and textual analysis. Such a textual approach has often failed to address sufficiently what Muslims actually do or did. Recent trends in Islamic studies — employing anthropological, sociological, and new philological methods — are extending how we approach Muslim religiosity as a lived reality both in the modern and historical periods.

This workshop will explore how Muslims live their religion as witnessed through contemporary observations as well as in textual reports, extending from the Qur’an to YouTube. The workshop will consider creative methodological and theoretical approaches in order to challenge and expand readings of Muslims practices and performance. Participants will be encouraged to bring their own examples from all regions and periods to enrich the interactive conversations in the workshop.

Panelists:

Leor Halevi, Vanderbilt University
Ritual, Gender, and Law: The Performance of Funerary Laments and the Rise of Islamic Practices

Karen Ruffle, University of Toronto, and Vernon Schubel, Kenyon College
Let the Margins Be the Center: Re-centering Marginalized Practices

Vincent Cornell, Emory University
Reading Performative Texts: What We Can Learn from Invocations (Dhikr) and Litanies (Wird)

Marcia Hermansen, Loyola University, Chicago
Islam, Nation, Modernity — Reading, Viewing, and Theorizing Elements of Muslim Religious Rituals and Islamicate Cultural Performances

Anna Bigelow, North Carolina State University
Space, Place, and Performance

Munir Jiwa, Graduate Theological Union
Exhibiting Islam/Muslims: Aesthetics, Politics, Religion

Nelly Van Doorn-Harder, Wake Forest University
Preaching: Hybrid Messages, Diffusing Authorities and New Media

Scott Kugle, Emory University
Sufi Musical Performance and Ritual Space