S E C T I O N NEWS
September 2001
Anthropology News
using the volumes in the classroom (send corn spondence to
[email protected]). leaching the History of Anthropology The A M Centennial Commission and the Gen-
eral Anthropology Division are making available articles on the history of anthropology that have been published over the years in the AA. These are in Adobe PDF format and can found at www. aaanet.org/committees/commissions/centennial/ history. (l-KGhLam m Indmia fbr the Fall, so please send contributions fir the GAD column-to Jon Marks, GAD Presidolt and fbnner EdiW, who comes out of retimnt to do this column fir three months. Find him at jma&s&nail.uncc.edu).
Middle East Section DANIEL MARTIN VARlSCO AND NAJWAADRA, CONTRIBUTING EDITORS The Ethnography of Invisible Spheres
By el-Sawd el-Aswad (Tanta U & WayneState U) Little attention has been given to the ethnography of invisible domains in the Middle East, though they overwhelmingly infiltrate people’s everyday lives. Invisiblethingsand unseen forces are flatly depicted as superstitions or as analytically epiphenomenal and never considered as aitical aspects of identity, society and cosmos. Over the last decade my ethnographic researdlin Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)led me to recognize the importance of the notion of invisibility in its relation to what is visible. It is not mere naive belief in such unseen entities and forces as spirits, ghosts, jinn, baraka or the evil eye that renders traditional persons superstitiousand irrational, as some scholars might suggest. It is the power of the imagined, sanctified, socialized and internalized invisible within and through which these beliefs can be understood. The notion of invisibility is impliat in the Arabic word ghaib, the meaning of which goes beyond what is concealed, imperceptible and internally hidden (bahin)to encompass mysterious, supernatural events (ghaibiyyat)and divine knowledge. Without the invisible domain, the visible world would be devoid of meaning. Invisibility allows for possibility, a core concept in Arab culture, and renders the whole society/cosmos a dynamic s t r u a . Everythmg in the social life, as well as in the amnos, is possible because there always is room for the invisible to work. What is visible is explainable in terms of what is invisible but nonetheless present. There is ongoing debate in the Middle East concerning the appropriate ways to deal with private and public zones as respectively equated with invisible and visible spheres. For instance, spirit p&on provides an opportunity for public s~pnariosthat go beyond the immediate context of the zar cult to trigger broader discourses mncerning the hidden and conflicting
Egyptian villagers participatingin a discussion on the hidden meanings of the sacred text.
dimensions of the cosmos, society and person. In the summer of 1999,the Shariqa Satellite (UAE) presented a show hosting scholars and supematural healers from different Arab nationalities who discussed and publicly performed rituals for healing spirit-a€flicted persons. Such practices are rendered intelligible when we recognize that of the nine constituents of the person in Islamic cosmology, eight are invisible (soul, psyche/self, ghost, double, two angels,unseen sister/ brother, heart and mind). A person who has a strong spirit or invisible iconic double (qurin) is thought to resist the penetration of alien spirits into her/his body. Another example relates to the socio-cosmic notion of as-satr, which denotes whatever can be invisible, covered, concealed, veiled, protected and secured. It is the intricate relationship between what is gradidly covered (mustur,) and ) which what is shamefully exposed (mafwwith individualsare concerned. To maintain his social dignity, a person not only endeavors to act honorably, but also to painstakingly hide his moral imperfections from the public. That person might convey “transparency” (shafafiya) when hisher inner thought becomes genuinely visible and accessible through social interactions. Yet, with the exception bf God, nobody can presume to ascertaina person’s inner motives and states of intention which are surmised by others through social interactions. People usuaIly question a person’s apparent actions and say ironically, “what is apparent or visible is for us [to know] and what is hidden or concealed is for God” (azmhir lam wa al-khafi ‘alaAllah). Workshop: Health and Illness in ME The Dept of ME Studies, Ben-Gurion LJ,will hold
its eighth annual intemational workshop from March-June 2002 on health and illness in ME societies in pre-modem and modem times. Issues include: interactions of disease with natural and
socialenvironments, conflicts of traditional practice with medical assumptions, effects of disease on group health, development of theories and systems to assist in coping with diseaseldisability, and influence of class and culture on health and illness. One- to two-page proposals are due December 1,2001.They should include a brief statement of topic, sources, methodology and relevance of paper to the workshop. Partiapants from abroad will receive round-trip airfare and lodging. Residents of Israel receive a grant. Participants must submit drafts of their papers in advance for distribution. Please send proposals and enquiries to Aref Abu-Fhbia, Dept of Middle East Studies, Ben-Gurion U of the Negev, Beer-Shew, 84105, Israel; tel 972-8-6472 540476; fax 9728-6472 952;
[email protected]. Contact Dan Varisco (
[email protected]) and Najwa Adra (najwa&ptonline.net,) a t Anthqolog, 115 Hofstra V, 104 Heger Hall, Hempstead, W 11549; tel 516-463-5590 or 516-676-91 57; www.aaanet.*M.hbn.
National Association for the Practice of Anthropology CARMEN GARCLARUE,CONTRIBUTING EDITOR NAPA Web Site to Serve Diverse Purposes
By Cris Johns& The NAPA Communications Committee has been very busy for a number of months considering a consistent and organized approach to getting information about NAPA and practicing anthropology to a variety of audiences in a variety of formats. To accomplish this important task,
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