Conferência “Constructions of Transnational Shi’ism: Pilgrimage and Religious Imagination at the Ziyarat al-‘Arbaiyyn, in Iraq”, por Paulo Hilu Pinto (Universidade Federal Fluminense)

Presentation

This lecture focuses on the processes of construction the Imam ‘Ali shrine and other shrines and tombs in Najaf, Iraq as a Shi‘i holy site, and their appropriation and resignification thorough practices of pilgrimage and visitation. The pilgrimage (ziyara) to shrines, tombs and holy places allows pilgrims from various parts of the world to experience a close and direct contact with the places and figures of sacred histories that are constructed as Islamic/Universal; Shi‘i; Arab; or specifically Iraqi. The multilayered religious experiences produced through pilgrimage rituals or visitation practices allow the various religious and national identities of pilgrims and visitors to be articulated to transnational religious or political imaginaries through their attachment to these shrines and holy places, which are invested with multiple layers of religious meanings, creating a tense connection between the plurality of identities among the pilgrims and visitors and the religious imaginaries that are invested in these shrines. The ethnographic data analyzed in this article were collected during fieldwork research done at Saiyda Zaiynab between 2000 and 2010, and in Najaf during the ziyara arba‘iyyn in December 2012 and January 2013.