Mysticism, Enchantment and Charisma Reincarnated: Nineteenth-Century Islamic Talismans, Vernacularization and Heritage Values in Contemporary Asante
Condensed, concealed, inconspicuous material embodiments of mysticism, enchantment, and charisma, nineteenth-century Islamic talismans traveled the trans-Saharan caravan trade routes, circulating widely among the non-Muslim Asante, reflecting a tradition illustrative of the movement of people, objec...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
|
| In: |
Material religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 15, Issue: 2, Pages: 221-239 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Islam
/ Amulet
/ History 1800-1900
/ Ashanti
/ Cultic object
/ Exchange
/ Sociocultural factor
|
| Further subjects: | B
Islam
B Islamic talismans B Asante |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Condensed, concealed, inconspicuous material embodiments of mysticism, enchantment, and charisma, nineteenth-century Islamic talismans traveled the trans-Saharan caravan trade routes, circulating widely among the non-Muslim Asante, reflecting a tradition illustrative of the movement of people, objects, texts, ideas, and imaginations. Produced by migrant Muslim merchant-clerics and consumed by non-Muslim Asantes, they demonstrate the ways in which Islamic and non-Islamic traditions are inextricably intertwined. Deemed exceedingly efficacious, nineteenth-century Islamic talismans were conscripted for the Asante imperial project, chiefly, imperial expansion by combatting opposing social and political forces, namely, local insurgencies and British colonialism. Today, nineteenth-century Islamic talismans remain highly popular, continuing to circulate in local, regional, and national arenas as part of a contemporary living social tradition. Employing archaeological ethnography, this article examines how Muslims and non-Muslims mobilize nineteenth-century Islamic talismans in the present, critiquing Western Eurocentric heritage values that are oblivious to, and disregard Islam in Asante as a lived social and material praxis. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2019.1590007 |
