The Digitization of Muharram and the Digital Intermediation of the Shi'a Majlis

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project examines an emerging trend among young Shi'a Muslims in South Asia, whereby many artworks and ceremonies pertaining to the mourning period that takes place during the month of Muharram are digitized and commodified. This trend proceeds from new opportunities for, and challenges to, the global Shi'a community. These include access to small media technogies and the ability to undergo pilgrimages to Karbala following the Iraq war. Focussing on noha poetry and Ashura soundscapes, this project principally elucidates the transnational impact of their digitization on conceptions of the majlis (mourning assembly) within contemporary Shi'ism, and examines the many religious subjectivities that this entails. In so doing, it aims to inform more appropriate approaches to sectarian conflict in the Islamicate communities of the Middle East and South Asia, in which many of these digital artworks are used and consumed.