Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World
Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World:
Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality
@
Chester Centre for Islamic Studies (CCIS)
20-21 May 2016
Hollybank CHB002, University of Chester
(campus map)
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
Day 1: Friday 20May
09:00 – 09:30: Registration and refreshments
09:30 – 10:00: Welcome
Oliver Scharbrodt, Chester Centre for Islamic Studies
10:00 – 11:00: Keynote Lecture 1:
Sabrina Mervin (EHESS/Centre Jacques Berque),Linking Shia Minorities to the Shii Core: History, Rituals and Religious Authority
11:00 – 11:15: Tea/Coffee break
11:15 – 12:45: Session 1
Performing Shiism: Rituals and Practices I
Yafa Shanneik (University of South Wales), “Husyan is our Homeland”: Shia Mourning Poetry in Women Rituals in London and Kuwait
Writing elegies for the dead and performing them publicly is an Arab tradition dating back to the pre-Islamic period. Al-Khansa’, a contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad, is one the best known poetesses who composed plaintive and melancholic poetry mourning the death of her two brothers. The style of her lamentation poetry has created and shaped the genre of Arabic lamentation poetry until the present. In the context of Twelver Shia Islam, writing elegies and performing them in mourning rituals has been a central element in lamenting the death of Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in Karbala in 680 CE. The lachrymal expressions and descriptions that characterises this lamentation poetry have the religious and ritualistic function of metaphorically identifying and uniting the participants with Imam Husayn and his cause. Yet, very little is known about Shia lamentation poetry, particularly those performed during women-only Shia ritual mourning practices.
This paper examines the thematic focus around Imam Husayn as homeland (watan) that has been repeatedly used in poetry recited in women-only religious gatherings (majalis) in London and in Kuwait. It analyses the reception of this poetry and the emotional affect on women of various backgrounds residing in contexts that are different in geographical, political and migratory terms. Yet, these gathering use similar symbolic imageries during Ashura rituals. The paper also addresses to what extent the reference of the martyr as “homeland” is also used as a literary tool in pre-Islamic poetry.
Marios Chatziprokopiou (Aberystwyth University), Performing Muharram in Piraeus: the Lamentation for Imam Husayn in a Migratory Context
Ashura is the tenth day of the Islamic month Muharram. In Shiism, Ashura signifies the commemoration of the martyrdom of Husayn, the grandson of Muhammad, who was defeated in 680 CE by the forces of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid. This event has often been used by Shia communities as a political paradigm of their minoritarian position in the Islamic worl, and of their resistance against oppressive powers. During the first ten days of Muharram, Shia communities around the world gradually reenact Husayn's martyrdom through ritual lamentation, including narrations, chants, weeping, chest-beating and self-flagellation. This paper builds on fieldwork conducted in 2014 among the Pakistani Shia community of the Azakhana Gulzare Zaynab, based in the city ofPiraeus. I explore how the aforementioned political and performative aspects of Ashura are displayed in the context of contemporary Greece, marked by the rise of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, the adoption of several of its main discourses by the former government, but also broader feelings of xenophobia. If, as I argue, during the last few years Pakistani migrants became, because of both the colour of their skin and their religious background, the principal scape-goats of Greek racist and, in some cases, murderous attacks, how does this racism affect Pakistani Shias in particular, given that they constitute “a minority within a minority”? Before meeting the participants of the Ashura, my aim was to focus on the discourses they would produce about their ritual actions in order to interrogate if, and to which extent, they perceive their lamentation for Husayn as an enactment of eventual grievances related to these multiple layers of their minoritarian status in Greece. In this paper, I demonstrate how this initial research question has been challenged by my interlocutors themselves and redirected through the fieldwork process. Reflecting on the latter as a “nexus of performances in which significant communicative events can happen” (Fabian 1999: 24) rather than as a strict data collection based on questions and answers, I propose a more complex understanding of the Ashura commemoration: it may also be an occasion that provides a time-frame out of the ordinary, within which the participants can not only enact the precariousness of their lives, but also suspend, or transgress this reality.
Noor Zaidi (University of Pennsylvania), “Still we long for Zaynab”: South Asian Shias and the Shia Shrines
The fall of Saddam Hussain in 2003 led to an explosion in pilgrimage – orziyarat–to the Shia holy citiesin Iraq, opening the doors for Shiafaithful to visit sacred sites that had been closed to them for decades.Yet even as pilgrims from around the world visited Karbala and Najaf in thetens of millions, the increasingunrest in Damascus would curtail visitation to the revered shrines of Zaynab bint ‘Ali and Ruqayyah bint Husayn. Theexhortation to undertakevisitation to the shrines of Shia martyrs has taken on a renewed vigor in Muharram celebrations in Shia diasporas around the world, and pilgrimage groups from the United States have abounded.This paper explores the longing for Shia shrine citiesamongst South Asian youth in the United States, with a particular focus on Shia communities in New York and New Jersey.It analyzes how Shia shrine cities have replaced the “homeland” in the discourse of second-generation immigrants, young American Muslims who express deeper affinity to these distant sitesand their affairsthan to the state of Shias intheir parents’native countries.Young Shias carry out pilgrimagesindividually or with their peers, in groups aimed at inculcating a sense of transnational Shia solidarity amongst the next generation of pilgrims.As the rhetoric aroundziyaratas a religious imperative has increased, so too have souvenir and gift exchanges, a practice that has only recently permeated the rituals of younger generations of South Asian Shia in these mosques.Encompassing these rituals and practices, however, isthe impactthatthe loss of the Sayyeda Zaynab shrine as a viable pilgrimage destination has had on the way the events of Karbala are commemorated – a loss that is essential to understanding thecomplex ways that young Shiaslong for the shrines of their “history”.
Reni Susanti (Tilburg University),Taklif Ceremony: Women Ritual and the Creation of Future Shii Generation in Indonesia
This paper introduces the Shii initiation ritual called taklif ceremonyorganised by female Qom alumni in Indonesia. The ritual has an important role inhelping researcher tounderstand theShia as a community andShiismaspractised in Indonesia.Focus of the study will be on how the ritual adapted in the Indonesian context, what kind of roles it serves in shaping the Shii womanhood/manhood in particular and the future Shii generation in general, as well as its role in empowering Shii women as participants of the ritual. Based on the ethnographic work, it is suggested that the ritual adapted from post-revolution Iran is not necessarily political in naturenor intended to serve the political interest of Iran in Indonesia. Taklif, as an initiation ritual, is a form of technology of the self with an Islamic framework that is not only a locus for disseminating and exercisingfiqhskills but also an embodiment of the philosophical and metaphysical tenets of Shiism.Furthermore, the ceremony also plays an important role in empoweringShiiwomen as the ritual provides spaces for women to consolidate themselves as minority group, to expresstheir religiosity,to learnand gain support from each other.
12:45 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:30: Session 2
Performing Shiism: Rituals and Practices II
Ekaterina Kapustina (European University at St. Petersburg),Moharramlik and the Modern Shia community of Derbent in Translocal Reality
The Shia community ofDerbenthas a centuries-old history in theregion. Shia Azeri along with Armenians, Russians and Jewish madeupthe majority ofDerbentpopulation by the beginning of the 20thcentury. Strong migration flows of the last hundred years have changed the ethnic and religious city structure dramatically.Russians, Jewish and Armenians have mostly left Dagestan.Derbentwaspopulatedby Sunnis coming from the mountain areas of the republic. In such conditions, the local Shia communitybecame largelyclosed inside the downtown of Derbent. As a result in modernDerbent, Shia Azeri are both an ethnic and religious minority. On the other side, in the lastthirtyyears the Shia ofDerbentlike many otherDagestaniansmigrated to other regions of Russia – Moscow, St. Petersburg, the gas and oil centres of West Siberia,as well asAzerbaijan. At the same time, inthe post-Soviet periodeducational migration of young people became popular – the Shia youth studiedinIslamic universities in Iran. Mostmigrants, especiallythose migrating within Russia,very often lead atranslocallife, visit relatives and family inDerbentfrom time to time and sometimes return there. In thiscontext, the funeral rites ofMoharramlikbecomeasocialevent thatbringsallDerbenterstotheir home city. As a result. there is a clash of different views onthe order ofAshuracelebrations, each ofthe viewsdirectly or indirectlydepending on the migration experiences of migrants and their families.
In my paper based on my personal fieldwork data,I will show the Ashuraritual complex in post-SovietDerbentShia community. ThroughAshuracelebration, I will analyse variouspoints of view fromrepresentativesofdifferent migration flows aswell astheir attitude to the home cityand its role and place in Shia world. In addition, I will pay attention to the changesof the Shia community’s status inDerbentin the context of the Sunni majority during recent decades.Ialsofind itinteresting to observe the discussion between young Azeri who studied Islam in Iran and localShiismsupporters, mostly represented by the elder generation.
Chiara Formichi (Cornell University), Performing Religion across the Indian Ocean: Ashura Commemorations in Indonesia
Shias in Indonesia account for less than 1% of the Muslim population, yet devotional practices dedicated to the “people of the house” involve more peoplethan that.Grounded in shardsof afarawaypast, today’s “lovers of theahlal-bayt” are committed to reclaim their historiesin an effort to carve their niche within the legitimate pale of Islam.Yemenis and Persians were amongst the first and most assiduous traders to reachthe archipelagoin the 9-13thcenturies:what started as commercial connections rapidly evolved into religious and cultural exchanges, stimulating rich vernacular Islamic traditions.In the 18thcentury,piety for theahlal-baytand ritual performances marking the period ofAshura, were imported to Sumatra by South Asiansepoysoldiers and convicts, under the briefperiodof British rule there.The20th-21stcenturies have been characterised by a stronger presence ofthe greaterMiddleEastregion, more specifically Iran.
In this presentation. I illustrate four examples ofAshura commemorations in Java and Sumatra (Jakarta, Bandung, Cirebon and Bengkulu) as windows to investigate the nexus between local forms of devotion and claims to authenticity.Having collected oral accounts of reconstructed histories, self-narratives, and genealogicalre-discoveries, I aim at unfolding the linkbetween ritual practicesand moral geographies.Amidsta recentconvergencetowards an orthopraxy promoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the quest for authenticity remainsmulti-sited, located intheearlyPersianda’isof West Java,thesepoysof South Asia,the characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the Arabs ofHadramawt, the philosophers ofMashhad, and the jurists of Qom.
Kathryn SpellmanPoots (Aga Khan University), The Arbaeen Pilgrimage: Movement and Mobility among young Shias in UK and USA
Following Ashura it is customary for devoted Shias to carry out street processions to commemorate the anniversary of the forty days after Imam Husayn’s death in 680CE. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and despite serious security issues, millions of Shias from around the world organise trips to Iraq to experience theannual Arbaeen pilgrimage to Imam Husayn’s mausoleum in Karbala. This paper will focus on the evolution of this massive pilgrimage and how it has become a significant spiritual, social and political event -even a new rite of passage - for young devoted Shias living the UK and USA. Based on personal reflections given by British and American Shias this paper examines the ways in which Arbaeen has become a communicative, symbolic and competitive space to engage with internal divides within and between local and transnational Shia and Sunni communities. Simultaneously, it has become a platform for Shias in the West to see themselves as part of an emerging, cross-ethnic global Shia community. The local and transnational social and economic infrastructure that supports the Arbaeen pilgrimage will also be discussed in relation to the proliferation of local charity events international tour operators and religious guides, and media campaigns. This paper will critically engage with sociological and anthropological literature (e.g Turner, Eade, Snallow and Werbner) on the processes that surround pilgrimage ritual in relation to ideas of the sacred, authority structures, subjectivities and identity formation, gender and tourism.
15:30 – 15:45: Tea/Coffee break
15:45 – 17:15: Session 3
Diasporic Shia Minorities: Transnationalism and Multilocality
Zahra Ali (University of Chester), Being a Young Devout Shii in London: Religiosity and Multiple Senses of Belonging between the UK and Iraq
This presentation explores the religious beliefs and practices, and the socio-political and transnational self-identifications of young educated British Shia (adherent of Twelver Shiism) of Iraqi descent living in London. My research is based on a double approach, socio-historical and ethnographic and is guided by an intersectional analysis imbricating concepts of religion, ethnicity, class, sect and translocality. The socio-historical approach looks at the evolution of transnational Iraqi Shia networks between Iraq (Najaf-Karbala and Baghdad) and London since the 1990s to today focusing particularly on the post-2003 period. The ethnographic approach relies on semi-structured interviews and participant observation within youth-oriented British-Iraqi Shia’s organizations and networks in London. In this presentation, I will seek to address the following questions: how do devout British Shia of Iraqi descent experience, express and define their religious beliefs and practices? What is their relationship to Shia transnational networks and more precisely to Iraq as both their country of origin and as the main land of the Shia sacred shrines and religious authority? How does British-Iraqi Shia relate and define their relationship to other Muslim communities? In exploring the religiosity and multiple senses of belonging of young educated British-Iraqi Shia living in London I intend to enrich the existing, but limited, literature on Shia communities in Europe and transnational Shia networks and to develop an intersectional and complex understanding of notions of religiosity, belonging-ness and translocality.
Elvire Corboz (University of Aarhus), Heritage Symbols Reformulated: The Legacy of the Ahlal-Bayt and the Shaping of Iran’s Activist Version of Shiism in Europe
Thispaper will explorethe use of Shii heritage symbols in Europe by what I call “Iran-oriented” institutions, and the meanings that these symbols are given in the process. This topic brings together two issues of interest that have been explored in the scholarship on Shiism in reference to communities in Arab, South and East Asian, as well as African countries, but not in the West. First is the question of Iran’s reach to Shia outside the country, and while the actual influence of the Islamic Republic should not be overemphasised, it is worth considering what becomes of its norms and values when those are addressed to communities living in a European environment. In particular, the “activist” version of Shiism propounded by the Iranian state is not, it appears, transplanted uniformly as such, but is framed in accordance with the context in which it is disseminated in order to be made relevant to its target audience. As such, activism can mean greater participation in the public sphere of European countries, outreach to “communicate the universal value of justice” inherent in Shiism to the larger society, sometimes proselytization among non-Muslims or non-Shia, and also the fight against obesity and unhealthy living behaviour, or the like. This confirms that the expectationsof transmigration scholars about the transformation and accommodation of transnational practices and ideas to contextualised localities also hold true in the case of state-sponsored transnationalism. Second, and in line with other studies that have analysed how the “Karbala paradigm” can be articulated differently in various historical and geographical settings, thispaperis interested in the interpretations of the Shii heritage that sustain Iran’s activist version of Shiism in its European making. Thebulk of theprimary material usedfor this analysis will consistof the videos of the commemorationsof the birth and death of theahlal-bayt which have beenheldin the past decadebythe London-based Islamic Centre of England and theAhlulBayt Islamic Mission.
Chris Heinhold (University of Chester), Who is Hussain: Contemporary Campaigning at the Glocal Level
Since its inception in 2012, the “Who is Hussain” campaign has expanded from a few dedicated youth based in London, to a global community of volunteers and activists engaged in a mixture of social work and spreading their message of Husayn ibn ‘Ali. While engaging in very particular types of civil society activities, focused on running food banks and soup kitchens for the homeless, along with blood drives and the providing of bottled water, these youth have created a space to spread the message and the values of Husayn, as they understand them, to a wide and diverse audience. Established as a means to reinforce their own religious values, and to bring the message of Husayn to people beyond their own faith community, the “Who is Hussain” campaign stresses that they “are apolitical, areligious and a-everything else that should divide us from one another!” The campaign has moved rapidly from the local, to the global stage. This multilocal engagement has been achieved not only through slick virtual presentation and savvy social media engagement, but with an enduring focus on real world, grass roots level engagement, with volunteers active across 60 countries. In this presentation, I will look at both the local and global aspects of the “Who is Hussain” campaign, examining how the transnational scope of the campaign is squared with the local contexts within which activists are operating. This is a truly “glocal” endeavour, operating on a global scale while remaining focused on local issues and embedded within local communities.