Muslim Communities and Cultures of the Himalayas

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by Lynda F. Rysavy | Wednesday, Apr 14, 2021

A new book edited by  Jacqueline H. Fewkes, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and Megan Adamson Sijapati, Ph.D. titled  "Muslim Communities and Cultures of the Himalayas," is now available from Routledge. 

 

The book chronicles individual perspectives and specific iterations of Muslim community, practice, and experience in the Himalayan region to bring into scholarly conversation the presence of varying Muslim cultures in the Himalaya.

 

The Himalaya provide a site of both geographic and cultural crossroads, where Muslim community is simultaneously constituted at multiple social levels, and to that end the essays in this book document a wide range of local, national, and global interests while maintaining a focus on individual perspectives, moments in time, and localized experiences. It presents research that contributes to a broadly conceived notion of the Himalaya that enriches readers’ understandings of both the region and concepts of Muslim community and highlights the interconnections between multiple experiences of Muslim community at local levels.

 

Drawing attention to the cultural, social, artistic, and political diversity of the Himalaya beyond the better understood and frequently documented religio-cultural expressions of the region, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of Anthropology, Geography, History, Religious Atudies, Asian Studies, and Islamic Studies. 

 

In addition to editing the volume Fewkes is the co-author of two chapters in the book ("Diversity, Continuity, and Disjuncture: Approaching Multivocal Perspectives on Being Muslim in the Himalaya" and "Perspectives: A Photo Essay"), and author of a third chapter ("When a Woman is Educated in Islam": Conversations with Alimaof Ladakh").