Paper short abstract:

Paper long abstract:

The mainstream tradition in social anthropology, until lately, has been to focus on the primacy of outer world events and the consideration of the interview as a research modality has been no exception. More recently the anthropology of the self and of consciousness has become significant but little study has as yet been made of inner dialogical and rhetorical events of which interviewing, aka question and answer, is one major form. This paper will focus on inspirational and sacred dream narratives of inner dialogues within the Islamic true dream, al-ruya, tradition. Inner guidance through night dream dialogues is not uncommon within the Islamic tradition, both Sunni and Shia, and is derived from the prophetic example of Mohammed. Similarities also abound within other wisdom traditions, such as the shamanic. I will present, as examples, key dream dialogues from both medieval and contemporary Islamic thinkers and healers. Such dream dialogues vary from those of ‘command’ to do this or that, as in the many reports of how apparently Mullah Omar founded and led the Taliban, to a more considered and nuanced dialogical inner event involving question and answer leading to interpretation and sometimes significant real world choices. One traditional example of such a dialogue from around the turn of the first millennium will be Abu Jafar al-Qayini’s reported dream interviews with the (image of) the Prophet Mohammed concerning core aspects of Islamic theology (Lamoreaux 2008). This paper will explore emerging issues as to the dynamics of such interview situations regarding for instance negotiations of power, status, meaning and authority in such settings; image presentation and impact; plot, performance and rhetoric; aesthetics and real world consequences. Finally I will begin a consideration of the overall differences and similarities between inner and outer world interview modalities.

Lamoreaux, J. 2008. ‘An Early Muslim Autobiograpicl dream narrative: Abu jafar al-Qayini and his Dream of the Prophet Muhammed’ in L. Marlow (ed.), Dreaming Across Boundaries: The Interpretation of Dreams in Islamic lands. Boston: Harvard University Press.