Paper short abstract:

I would like to discuss how moving within the flows of life, as well as various movements during Zâr ritual (the prevalent healing ceremony in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa), constitute new meanings of healing, life and the world for the people of Qeshm Island, Iran.

Paper long abstract:

Over the centuries, the social sciences mainstream was under the influence of Descartes' famous proposition, "I think, therefore I am." Hence, two premises were prevalent in most of the scientific research for a long time: the dualisms between the mind and the body, and the subject and the object. Disgracing the body as the motionless locus of illusory senses, valorizing the rational scientific process as the only valid source for acquiring knowledge, and human's detachment from the world and his supremacy over the environment can all be considered as the consequences of such reductionist viewpoints. It was only by the beginning of the twentieth century and the emergence of approaches like phenomenology that some scholars, casting doubt on the idea of a universal scientific path to knowledge, commenced going beyond these dualities. Nowadays, it is possible to speak of latest anthropological works, for instance, which consider the human body as a moving field of sensory experiences that perceives the world through its ceaseless connectedness with things and non-human beings.

Relying upon my own fieldwork in Qeshm Island, Iran and several approaches in phenomenological anthropology, I will initially explore how moving within the flows of life (roaming in the open air, being enwinded or immersed with water, dancing within the flows of music) constitutes people's perceptions of their worlds. Relatedly and more specifically, I will discuss how various movements during Zâr ritual (the prevalent healing ceremony in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa) constitute new meanings of healing and dwelling for the sufferer and the whole community.