An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi'i Lebanon

Lara Deeb

Published by Princeton University Press 2006

An Enchanted Modern

Gender and Public Piety in Shi'i Lebanon

Lara Deeb

Volume 17 in the series Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400840786

Overview
Contents

About this book

Based on two years of ethnographic research in the southern suburbs of Beirut, An Enchanted Modern demonstrates that Islam and modernity are not merely compatible, but actually go hand-in-hand. This eloquent ethnographic portrayal of an Islamic community articulates how an alternative modernity, and specifically an enchanted modernity, may be constructed by Shi'I Muslims who consider themselves simultaneously deeply modern, cosmopolitan, and pious.

In this depiction of a Shi'I Muslim community in Beirut, Deeb examines the ways that individual and collective expressions and understandings of piety have been debated, contested, and reformulated.

Women take center stage in this process, a result of their visibility both within the community, and in relation to Western ideas that link the status of women to modernity. By emphasizing the ways notions of modernity and piety are lived, debated, and shaped by "everyday Islamists," this book underscores the inseparability of piety and politics in the lives of pious Muslims.

Author / Editor information

Lara Deeb is a cultural anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Women's Studies at the University of California, Irvine.

Reviews

"Deeb provides insights into the complex understandings of the religious and the secular that inform individual and collective expressions of piety among Shia Muslims."---Amina Jamal, Journal of Middle East Women's Studies

"In a well-organized manner, Lara Deeb conveys a multiplicity of ideas that challenge the existing stereotypes of Hizbullah and the Lebanese Shi'i.... I would recommend this book for a variety of classes, ranging from undergrads to doctoral candidates, as well as for anyone interested in political and religious issues in Lebanon and the Middle East."---Bridget Blomfield, American Journal of Islamic Social Scientists

"Lara Deeb successfully argues that Islamism is not static or monolithic, and that Islam and modernity are entirely compatible."---Nancy E. Gallagher, Digest of Middle East Studies

"Well-written, timely, original and extremely interesting. This book is at the cutting edge of scholarship on Muslim communities, particularly with respect to Shi'i Muslim women."—Nadje S. Al-Ali, University of Exeter

"An American anthropologist of Lebanese descent and raised Christian, Lara Deeb . . . provides a novel interpretation of modern Shi'ism. Her book is written in an academically and scholarly fashion, yet her writing style is easy to understand. In a well-organized manner, she conveys a multiplicity of ideas that challenge the existing stereotypes of Hizbullah and the Lebanese Shi'i. Since she is not Shi'i, she does not express a religious agenda but instead wholeheartedly represents a group of people who have been widely misunderstood in the West. I would recommend this book for a variety of classes, ranging from undergrads to doctoral candidates, as well as for anyone interested in political and religious issues in Lebanon and the Middle East."---Bridget Blomfield, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences

"A remarkable book that opens new vistas on Shi'I Islam and offers the reader a richly textured and insight-filled excursion into a contemporary Shi'I community. It will become the source on contemporary Shi'ism in Lebanon."—A. R. Norton, Boston University

"Lara Deeb's expansive and eloquent ethnography focuses on the community of Lebanese Shi'i who identify with Hizbullah. It is an excellent analysis of the way that women, in particular, live and define a modern, 'authenticated' Islam in the neighborhoods of al-Dahiyya.... Both theoretically and ethnographically, Deeb offers nuanced and thorough analyses, all the while being attentive to overlapping, contradictory, and shifting viewpoints."---Anne Bennett, Middle East Journal

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Note on Language Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
PART ONE. Encounters, Approaches, Spaces, Moments
INTRODUCTION Pious and/as/is Modern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
CHAPTER ONE. Al-Dahiyya: Sight, Sound, Season Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
CHAPTER TWO. From Marginalization to Institutionalization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
PART TWO. Living an Enchanted Modern
CHAPTER THREE. The Visibility of Religion in Daily Life Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
CHAPTER FOUR. Ashura: Authentication and Sacrifice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
CHAPTER FIVE. Community Commitment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
CHAPTER SIX. Public Piety as Women’s Jihad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
CHAPTER SEVEN. The Pious Modern Ideal and Its Gaps Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251