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- Convenors:
-
Lili Di Puppo
(University of Helsinki)
Fabio Vicini (University of Verona)
Stefan Williamson Fa (Lund University)
Send message to Convenors
- Chair:
-
Stefan Williamson Fa
(Lund University)
- Formats:
- Panel
- Mode:
- Online
- Sessions:
- Thursday 18 July, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Madrid
Short Abstract:
This panel addresses forms of knowledge that emphasise undoing by drawing inspiration from Muslim and other religious ontologies. We welcome papers that investigate how acts of contemplation and surrender in various religious traditions unveil other modes of knowing and, relatedly, of (un)doing.
Long Abstract:
This panel addresses the question of ‘(un)doing’ in anthropology raised in the EASA 2024 conference’s theme, by drawing inspiration from the ontologies and epistemologies that anthropologists researching Islam and other religious traditions encounter in the field. In particular, we welcome papers that investigate how the acts of contemplation and surrender, common to these traditions, unveil other modes of knowing and, relatedly, of doing and undoing the ways humans experience the world. Relatedly we ask whether these other modes of knowing are more able than conventional approaches to respond to the main uncertainties of our times.
Contemplation and surrender as modes of approaching reality differ from a tradition of knowledge that emphasises power and control in the social sciences and Western academia at large. The ideals of accurately understanding phenomena for the purpose of predicting the future that have guided modern knowledge approaches are increasingly unsettled by climate change, wars, pandemics, and end-of-times prophecies. In contrast to the pursuit of predictability, religious traditions present us with other forms of knowledge that emphasise ‘undoing’. By ‘undoing’ we mean the act of relinquishing claims to power in the presence of a world filled with wonders and mysteries, experiencing it from a position of surrendering that foregrounds the use of other human faculties, like for example, the heart in the Islamic Sufi tradition. The panel hence aims to explore how such and other ‘religious positionings’ that foster ‘surrendering states’ such as peace, acceptance and also ‘tranquil awakening’ prompt us to rethink anthropological knowledge.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 18 July, 2024, -Christian Suhr (Aarhus University)
Paper short abstract:
"Eating love and light through the heart", "going out with the breath from the heart", "sensing a pulsating expansion from the heart" – in three video examples I present experiential descriptions of expansions of the heart provided by Muslim, Christian and Buddhist practitioners in Egypt and Denmark
Paper long abstract:
A sufi shaykh describes a moment of eating love and light through the heart during the chanting of a poem. This moment is followed by an expansion of the sensation of love, starting in the heart and from there connecting to the body and mind. A woman who practices a meditation inspired by Tibetan Buddhism describes how she inhales light from above her head, and then breathes out through her heart. This is followed by an expansion and transformation of the sense of space. A man describes how his recitation of the Jesus Prayer becomes silent and is followed by a sensation of pulsating expansion from his chest that moves through him and brings him into contact with the environment around him.
These three reports of specific experiences that occurred during religious and contemplative practice can be understood as examples of micro-actions or micro-gestures that work to release sensations of agentive control and allowing feelings of love or other qualities of the heart to expand. In the presentation we will watch videos of the three examples and discuss the similarities and differences.
The three reports were collected during ongoing fieldwork with Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist practitioners in Egypt and in Denmark. The project is entitled "Heart Openings: The Experience and Cultivation of Love in Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam" (ERC-STG 2021-26).
Iqbal Akhtar (Templeton Religion Trust)
Paper short abstract:
I define polycrisis more narrowly through its physics, explore a few key dimensions that drive it, and describe one possible solution, covenantal pluralism, as a novel way of understanding and addressing the polycrisis through self and social cultivation of spiritual intelligence.
Paper long abstract:
The multiple interconnected challenges humanity now faces have been most recently described in European economics as polycrisis, roughly corresponding to the perennial problem that is analyzed by the US Army’s VUCA paradigm. From a theological perspective, polycrisis is the modern articulation of the ancient question of theodicy, the problem of evil and human suffering. This article will attempt to define polycrisis more narrowly through its physics, explore a few key dimensions that drive it, and describe one possible solution, covenantal pluralism, as a novel way of understanding and addressing the polycrisis through self and social cultivation of spiritual intelligence. Developing spiritual intelligence through covenantal pluralism can help unlock the human spiritual imaginary's potential in ideating and implementing solutions to overcome the collective action problem in answering this existential risk and furthering human flourishing.
Zora Kostadinova (University College London)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will present an ethnographic excavation of experience in the Sufi ritual zikr. Such narratives show that the self is subjected to a process of ritual undoing, whereby difficult emotions and fear can be reconfigured through the cultivation of Divine love.
Paper long abstract:
This paper is based on my fieldwork with a group of Naqshbandi Muslims in Sarajevo and it presents an experiential narrative of ritual practice. Ethnographic excavation of experience in zikr (remembrance of Allah) shows that central to ritual efficacy is the way ritual can become a medium to help reconfigure a new sense of self through an emotional identification of the mystic pain or dert (pain felt as a separation from God) with a Divine invitation in the healing of the self. This paper considers what this healing means. The dert/pain can be an assemblage of various processes of suffering pivoting around different life situations. Thus, the analytical focus points to the way by which suffering is undone, and converted into an understanding of Divine presence. The paper approaches zikr as a method of “surrendering to the states of the heart” and it shows how "surrender", offers itself up to the reconfiguration of the interiority, through relinquishing control, and learning how to relate to a precarious and often polarised everyday through cultivating and embodying Divine love.
Lili Di Puppo (University of Helsinki)
Paper short abstract:
I reflect on two fieldwork sites: a Bashkir Sufi circle and preliminary thoughts on how Muslims navigate uncertain times in France and Belgium. I place at the centre of my reflection the idea of knowledge through surrender in the Islamic tradition, also exploring how to embrace it methodologically.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I reflect on two fieldwork sites: my fieldwork in a Bashkir Sufi circle in Russia’s Urals and preliminary thoughts on how Muslims respond to uncertainties in the form of climate change, wars, pandemics, and end-of-times prophecies in France and Belgium. I want to explore how the theme of surrendering resonates in these different sites and how my interlocutors embrace Islamic knowledge to navigate uncertainties. I place at the centre of my reflections the idea of knowledge through surrender that is present in the Islamic tradition, particularly Sufi modes of knowing, also exploring how to embrace it methodologically. How does the idea of knowledge through surrender respond to a tradition in the social sciences that emphasises power and control as ideals guiding the acquisition of knowledge? What does it mean for the researcher to adopt a position of “surrendering” when studying religious communities? To answer these questions, I will reflect on two poles that define the human in the Islamic tradition: the vicegerent of God on Earth and the servant of God. I want to understand how the idea of servanthood corresponds to another approach to human knowledge than the one originating in the Enlightenment period.
Nasima Selim (University of Bayreuth)
Paper short abstract:
How do Sufis un/do the breathing heart facing secular suffering in the context of anti-Muslim racism? How does anthropology mis/understand with its "controlled equivocation"? Sufi heart-centered contemplation and surrendering to breath may not be about ending suffering but living with uncertainties.
Paper long abstract:
"A Sufi is someone who breathes well,""The medicine of the heart is the remembrance of Allah,""The heart is the higher intelligence and intuition"- I frequently heard these key phrases from my Sufi interlocutors. How do Sufis un/do the breathing heart to navigate secular suffering in Germany, a postsecular society fraught with anti-Muslim racism? How do Sufi Islamic practices of heart-centered contemplation and surrendering to the breath feature in such navigation? How does anthropology mis/understands them with its "controlled equivocation"? My paper contemplates these questions informed by more than a decade of Sufi practice and long-term ethnographic fieldwork (2013-2015, 2020-2021) among three Sufi networks and nomadic Sufis in Berlin and connected sites. As a dual apprentice of anthropology and the Sufi tradition, I have followed the metaphor and practice of the breathing heart to explore the promises and limits of Sufi un/doing in the company of anthropological theory and practice (Selim 2024). Juxtaposing conversations with contemporary Sufis with classical Sufi discourses, this paper shows how Sufi seekers un/do the breathing heart not only through contemplation and surrendering but also by engaging in body prayers while the anthropologist mis/understands them with her (un)intentionally "controlled equivocations" (Viveiros de Castro 2004). These "controlled equivocations" implicate not only Sufi discourses but also anthropological discourses as and the productivity and limits of the latter's mis/understandings. The discursive, embodied, and more-than-biomedical knowledge derived from Sufi heart- and breath-centered practices provide ontologies and epistemologies of healing that may not be about ending suffering but living with contemporary uncertainties.
Lisa Franke (Ghent University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the potential of organic Islam in the socio-religioscapes of Egypt. Grounded on processes of social transformation and new religious knowledge, to unravel the dynamics of contemplation and surrender within the entangled framework of Islamic traditions and lived experiences.
Paper long abstract:
Drawing inspiration from the panel’s focus on acts of contemplation and surrender in religious traditions, I propose an in-depth examination of how organic Islam serves as a unique lens through which individuals can navigate and shape their realities. In particular, I will explore how different practices and varying, intimate approaches to normative knowledge can act as catalysts for social change. The central objective is to shed light on how changing religious positionings in Egypt are being dealt with, argued and navigated within complex socio-religious as well as political settings. By analysing lived experiences and narratives from my fieldwork, I aim to showcase the nuanced ways in which individuals engage with uncertainties and challenges, moving beyond the traditional paradigm of power, control and authoritative knowledge. Furthermore, this paper aims to discuss how organic Islam can provide a more holistic and adaptive response to the ambiguities of our times, offering alternative perspectives on social transformation and individual agency. Through this exploration, I hope to contribute valuable insights to the broader discourse on ‘(un)doing’ within anthropology and inspire further research in similar contexts.
Keywords: Organic Islam, Social Transformation, Contemplation, Surrender, Egyptian Religious Practices, Individualisation, Anthropology
Federico Sammarone (University of Milan-Bicocca)
Paper short abstract:
Based on fieldwork within a host community for adolescent migrants in Milan, the paper examines their intricate journey of balancing two worlds, managing cultural expectations, and navigating distinct epistemologies. It also explores the religious practices they implement to foster their "agency".
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I draw upon materials gathered during my ethnographic research conducted as part of my doctoral research at the University of Milano-Bicocca, in which I focus on a host community for unaccompanied minors in Milan within the framework of Anthropology of Islam. My emphasis is on the everyday Islamic practices of young migrants who find themselves in a challenging middle position between two societies. The collision they experience often involves conflicting views on their social position and role, rooted in different epistemologies. On the one hand, there is the aspiration to control one's life — the desire for a better social position, a positive image, and adherence to economic migratory mandates. On the other, the reality of arrival and life in host communities reveals a different scenario: a suspension of time, an inability to meet all needs, and a daily existence marked by obstacles, commitments, and significant anxieties. Amid this struggle, deviance is a constant threat. Islamic practice and spirituality, however, present an alternative. Despite not disregarding the pursuit of material wealth, they offer a path based on patience, prayer, and surrender, leading to serendipitous moments and acceptance. Understanding this struggle has been a significant aspect of my role as an educator and ethnographer. It has shifted my approach from a vertical and certainty-based perspective to one centered on dialogue and questions. This shift allowed me to inhabit the threshold between shaping and reshaping the migrant future — a space where these diverse epistemologies can intersect.
Fabio Vicini (University of Verona)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores contemplation practices within Islamic revivalist movements in Turkey, suggesting Muslim ontologies and related theologies should be seen as sources for broadening anthropological theory and not just as an interpretative tool to understand our “religious” interlocutors better.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores contemplation practices within an Islamic revivalist movement in contemporary Turkey and how they affected the anthropologist during and after fieldwork. The paper takes "seriously" the researcher’s reflection on his experiences of transcendence in and just after the fieldwork as they raise both methodological and theoretical questions. Methodologically, they invite the researcher to "surrender" to other modes of knowing they disclose, undoing conventional ways of thinking and practicing the ethnographic experience. Theoretically, these experiences question the secular logic that still underlies most interpretations of religious phenomena within anthropology and beyond, inviting researchers to take a more bottom-up, ontologically grounded approach to "theory". In this light, the paper suggests that Muslim ontologies and related theologies should be seen as sources for broadening anthropological theory rather than merely as interpretative tools for understanding the anthropologist's religious interlocutors.