"[I]t is extremely salubrious to see the ways Islam works in the lives of ordinary people who are not politicized in their religious lives. . . . No other book on South Asia has material like this." —Ann Grodzins GoldIn Amma's Healing Room is a compelling study of the life and thought of a female Muslim spiritual healer in Hyderabad, South India. Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger describes Amma's practice as a form of vernacular Islam arising in a particular locality, one in which the boundaries between Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity are fluid. In the "healing room," Amma meets a diverse clientele that includes men and women, Muslim, Hindu, and Christian, of varied social backgrounds, who bring a wide range of physical, social, and psychological afflictions. Flueckiger collaborated closely with Amma and relates to her at different moments as daughter, disciple, and researcher. The result is a work of insight and compassion that challenges widely held views of religion and gender in India and reveals the creativity of a tradition often portrayed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike as singular and monolithic.
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Ethnographic study of a charismatic Muslim woman healer whose practice crosses gender and religious boundaries
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsA Note on TransliterationIntroduction: Called to Amma's Courtyard1. Setting the Stage: The Healing Room, Its Actors, and Its Rhythms2. The Healing System3. Patient Narratives in the Healing Room4. Negotiating Gender in the Healing Room5. Religious Identities at the Crossroads6. Immersed in Remembrance and Song: Religious Identities, Authority, and Gender at the Sam?Conclusion: Vernacular Islam Embedded in RelationshipsEpilogueAppendix: Death and Difference: A ConversationGlossaryNotesSelect BibliographyIndex
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. . . [H]er book, like all ethnographies, should also be read between the lines—Flueckiger was concerned that by publishing her material she would bring public attention to forms of Islam criticized by other Muslims; she also analyses very sensitive dimensions of Amma's role as a healer—notably the part she plays in Hindu-Muslim conversion processes. All in all, In Amma's Healing Room is a well-written ethnographic study of a complex and sensitive domain of Muslim religious experience and, as such, is a very welcome addition not only to the expanding body of anthropological work on Islam as a world religion. It broadens the anthropological understanding of the various forms taken by Islamic religious authority and offers new insights into the vitality and diversity of Muslim ritual practices in South Asia.
Les mer
[I]t is extremely salubrious to see the ways Islam works in the lives of ordinary people who are not politicized in their religious lives. . . . No other book on South Asia has material like this.
Ethnographic study of a charismatic Muslim woman healer whose practice crosses gender and religious boundaries

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780253218377
Publisert
2006-04-26
Utgiver
Vendor
Indiana University Press
Vekt
513 gr
Høyde
235 mm
Bredde
155 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
320

Biographical note

Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger is Professor of Religion at Emory University and author of Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India.