WOMEN MYSTICS AND SUFI SHRINES IN INDIA by Kelly Pemberton, Frederick M. Denny ( 9781570039195 )

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Title:

WOMEN MYSTICS AND SUFI SHRINES IN INDIA

By:

Kelly Pemberton, Frederick M. Denny

Format:

Hardback

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£54.00

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£52.38

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£1.62

ISBN 10:

1570039194

ISBN 13:

9781570039195

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Publisher:

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS

Pub. date:

15 October, 2010

Series:

Studies in Comparative Religion

Pages:

256

Description:

Combines historical data with years of ethnographic fieldwork to investigate women's participation in the culture of Sufi shrines in India and the manner in which this participation both complicates and sustains traditional conceptions of Islamic womanhoo

Synopsis:

Women Mystics and Sufi Shrines in India combines historical data with years of ethnographic fieldwork to investigate women's participation in the culture of Sufi shrines in India and the manner in which this participation both complicates and sustains traditional conceptions of Islamic womanhood. Kelly Pemberton's fieldwork offers an assessment of the contemporary circumstances under which a woman may be recognized as a spiritual authority or guide--despite official denial of such status--and an examination of the discrepancies between the commonly held belief that women cannot perform in the public setting of shrines and her own observations of women doing precisely that. She demonstrates that the existence of multiple models of master and disciple relationships have opened avenues for women to be recognized as spiritual authorities in their own right. Specifically Pemberton explores the work of performance, recitation, and ritual mediation carried out by women connected with Sufi orders through kinship and spiritual ties, and she maps shifting ideas about women's involvement in public ritual events in a variety of contexts, circumstances, and genres of performance.She also highlights the private petitioning of saints, the Prophet, and God performed by poor women of low social standing in Bihar Sharif. These women are often perceived as being exceptionally close to God yet are compelled to operate outside the public sphere of major shrines.

Illustrations:

8 illustrations

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Imprint:

University of South Carolina Press

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Returnable

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