How to do things with examples: Sufis, dreams, and anthropology. (May 2015)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- How to do things with examples: Sufis, dreams, and anthropology. (May 2015)
- Main Title:
- How to do things with examples: Sufis, dreams, and anthropology
- Authors:
- Mittermaier, Amira
BANDAK, ANDREAS
HØJER, LARS - Abstract:
- <abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>In this paper I explore how members of a Sufi community in Egypt use dream‐stories as examples to evoke an otherwise invisible realm, and how I, in turn, use their stories ethnographically. My Sufi interlocutors use examples to invite others into the realm of the imagination, to draw listeners into the shaykh's spiritual aura, and to offer a model for emulation that sometimes triggers similar experiences in others. Their approach to examples poses a challenge to the logic of representation, in which a particular stands in for a larger whole. Instead it points to an evocative logic in which examples do not merely represent; they also <italic>do</italic> things. Whereas ethnographic examples tend to oscillate between representation and evocation, referential language ideologies largely obscure the example's evocative power. I suggest that my interlocutors' use of, and approach to, examples can help us think about the example as evocative and performative, including the ways in which examples act upon and through anthropologists.</p> </abstract>
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Volume 21:Number 1(2015:Mar.)
- Journal:
- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
- Issue:
- Volume 21:Number 1(2015:Mar.)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 21, Issue 1 (2015)
- Year:
- 2015
- Volume:
- 21
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2015-0021-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 129
- Page End:
- 143
- Publication Date:
- 2015-05
- Subjects:
- Anthropology -- Periodicals
Ethnology -- Periodicals
301 - Journal URLs:
- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9655 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/1467-9655.12170 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1359-0987
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4851.900000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 4388.xml