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- Volume 6, Issue 2, 2017
Performing Islam - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2017
Volume 6, Issue 2, 2017
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The Qur’ānic recitation traditions of the Tatars and Bashkirs in Russia: Evolution of style
More LessAbstractThis article for the first time discusses the evolution of the Russian Turkic (Tatar and Bashkir) Qur’ānic recitation tradition as an integral phenomenon and, in parallel, identifies the differences in these two ethno-regional forms, provides the historical context to enable an understanding of the nature of changes, describes its development stages and outlines the specifics of professional and non-professional forms of the Qur’ānic recitation by Tatars and Bashkirs in terms of ethnical background and relations with the classical Arabic tradition. It summarizes the unique facts found in historical and other scientific sources, field research materials (interviews, audio and video records) and the results of the author’s scientific research for more than 25 years. Music notation and computer graphs are used for illustrative purposes.
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Embodying Islam: The political, social and spiritual use of the body in performative practice
More LessAbstractAttitudes towards the performing body in Islam are complex and varied. The highly codified ritual prayer salat is central to daily life, while dancing is oft regarded as an immoral and frivolous activity. Sufi Muslims embrace movement-based practices as part of a spiritual experience and receive harsh criticism from other Islamic denominations. Yet, many people enjoy dancing, at celebrations, for example, and those living in conservative countries put themselves at extreme risk to do so. This article explores this paradox by analysing the political, social and spiritual use of the body in Islam through three embodied practices: dance, salat and Sufi worship. How does belief affect Muslims’ experiential and everyday modes of being? How does it manifest in performative aspects of both culture and religion? What are the politics of performance in Islam? This research reveals how history, culture and Islamic ideology intersect to form dynamic and multifarious interpretations of the body and its boundaries.
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Unnaturalness of Hajj narratives: We-narrative and narrating performative collective subjectivity
More LessAbstractThis article explores the performative aspects of Hajj and resultant collective subjectivity. It is attempted to theorize the collective nature of Hajj and collective subjectivity in the narratives of Hajj performance looking at the narratives written on Hajj and its experiences by Hajjis. It investigates the use of we-narrative, mainly found in the narratives of Hajj, which is probably used to evoke the feeling of community and collectivity in the readers or in the writer-performer himself or herself. It is argued that collective subjectivity is constructed through the narratives to display the collective character of Hajj. This kind of narrative process is seldom considered to be a part of conventional narrative structures and here it is categorized under the rubric of ‘unnatural narrative’. The exclusive character of we-narrative, as in Hajj narratives, has been considered for further analysis and an attempt has been made to conceptualize ‘we-narrator’ and ‘we-narrator’ under pertinent philosophical questions of ‘intentionality’ and ‘collective action’ and it is further made complex by taking them up in the narratological discussion on how to narrate the collective actions and what kind of persons can be used to capture the essence of the performance of ritual, Hajj pilgrimage as in case of this article.
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