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A Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East presents a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in anthropological research and activism in the modern Middle East.
* Offers critical perspectives on the theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical goals of anthropology in the Middle East
* Analyzes the conditions of cultural and social transformation in the Middle Eastern region and its relations with other areas of the world
* Features contributions by top experts in various Middle East anthropological specialties
* Features in-depth coverage of issues drawn from religion, the arts, language, politics, political economy, the law, human rights, multiculturalism, and globalization
List of contents
Notes on Contributors x
Acknowledgments xvii
Preface xviii
Part I Introduction: Theoretical and Conceptual Issues 1
1 Enduring Concerns, Resilient Tropes, and New Departures: Reading the Companion 3
Deniz Kandiyoti
2 Theory and Thematics in the Anthropology of the Middle East 15
Suad Joseph
3 Structure/Agency and the Anthropology of the Middle East 40
Soraya Altorki
4 Reflections on the Politics of Middle East Studies 72
Steven C. Caton
Part II Culture and Everyday Life 89
5 The Politics of Aesthetics in the Muslim Middle East 91
Martin Stokes
6 Dreams and the Miraculous 107
Amira Mittermaier
7 Refiguring Islam 125
Nada Moumtaz
8 In the Garden of the Sexes: Of Men, Women, Gaze, and Hair 151
Shahla Haeri
9 Trajectories of Gendered Labor 172
Livia Wick
10 The Politics of Poetry 188
J. Andrew Bush
Part III Social Relations and Social Movements 205
11 Medical Anthropology in the Middle East and North Africa 207
Jessica Newman and Marcia C. Inhorn
12 From Rural Development to Environmental Anthropology 233
Nicholas S. Hopkins
13 Displacement and Dispossession in the Middle East 249
Dawn Chatty
14 Anthropology and Humanitarianism in the Middle East 262
Ilana Feldman
15 Anthropologies of Middle Eastern Diasporas 282
Paul A. Silverstein
16a The Invention of the Mizrahim 316
Ella Shohat
16b The Mizrahi Cinema of Displacement 329
Ella Shohat
17 Social Movements and Revolution 338
Zeina Zaatari
Part IV Law, Politics, and the State 361
18 Justice between Islamic Sharia and Liberal Law: Remarks on the Egyptian Context 363
Hussein Ali Agrama
19 The Notion of Arab Culture and the "Colonial Present" 391
Mayssoun Sukarieh
20 Rethinking Anthropology of Neoliberalism in the Middle East 411
Julia Elyachar
21 "States of Aspiration": Anthropology and New Questions for the Middle East 434
Michelle Obeid
22 Rethinking the "Post?]Ottoman": Anatolian Armenians as an Ethnographic Perspective 452
Hakem Al?]Rustom
23 Reframing the Middle Eastern City: Thoughts on New Research 480
Kamran Asdar Ali
Part V Pop Culture and New Media 493
24 Middle Eastern Music and Popular Culture 495
John Philip Rode Schaefer
25 New Media and Electronic Networks 509
Mark Allen Peterson
Index 526
About the author
Soraya Altorki is Professor of Anthropology at the American University in Cairo (AUC). She is the author or co-author of five books and many journal articles and book chapters in the area of the anthropology of the Arab world, including studies on the family, gender, youth, religion, and political economy.
Summary
A Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East presents a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in anthropological research and activism in the modern Middle East.
Report
"Anyone seriously interested in the most recent anthropological research on the Middle East can do no better than read this excellent collection of essays. The editor is to be congratulated."
Talal Asad, City University of New York
