Blood and the City

Animal Representations and Urban (Dis)orders during the ‘Feast of the Sacrifice’ in Istanbul and Khartoum

in Anthropology of the Middle East
Author: Alice Franck 1 , Jean Gardin 2 , and Olivier Givre 3
View More View Less
  • 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University alicefranck@yahoo.fr
  • 2 Panthéon-Sorbonne University Jean.Gardin@univ-paris1.fr
  • 3 University Lumière Lyon 2 olivier.givre1@univ-lyon2.fr
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2016.110108
Keywords:
animal death; Istanbul; Khartoum; sacrifice; urban space
Restricted access

All currencies in US Dollar

PayPal Logo

Abstract

Based on comparative fieldwork studies of the Muslim ‘Feast of the Sacrifice’, this article questions the places, shapes and stakes of ritual animal death in the urban space. The examples of Istanbul (Turkey) and Khartoum (Sudan) illustrate different but comparable perceptions, practices and management of a ritual event simultaneously associated with religious traditions and confronted with deep transformations in urbanised and globalised societies. Between ritual normalcy and controversial practice, sacrifice in the city is not reducible to a religious matter but addresses at once spatial, social and cultural issues, informed by economic and political stakes. Through a ritual performance and its manifold aspects, the article explores the multiple and evolving representations of the place and role of animals (and their death) in an urban context.

Contributor Notes

Alice Franck, Assistant Professor in Geography at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and coordinator of CEDEJ Khartoum (MAEDI-USR 3123), works mainly in Sudan and more specifically in Khartoum. Her research focuses on urban agriculture and moves in two directions: land-use dynamics and land conflicts associated to agricultural land, and livestock markets and exportations, including breeding in the city. E-mail: alicefranck@yahoo.fr

Jean Gardin, Assistant Professor in Geography at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and researcher at LADYSS (CNRS 7533), works on political geography of the environment, in Tunisia (PhD on the political construction of forests and forestry, 2004), south-east Europe (crossborder protected areas and protected species) and on hi-tech artefacts (RFID chips) in the management of environment and agriculture. He managed the ‘Mort animale rituelle et profane’ research project (2014−2015). E-mail: Jean.Gardin@univ-paris1.fr

Olivier Givre, Assistant Professor in Social Anthropology at University Lumière-Lyon 2 and researcher at EVS (Environnement, Ville, Société, CNRS 5600), works mainly on ritual and religious dynamics, heritage and memory processes, and border/crossborder issues in European societies. He did his PhD on kurban (sacrifice) in the Balkans (2006) and is presently working on globalised religious moral economies, including the transformations of Muslim sacrifice. E-mail: olivier.givre1@univ-lyon2.fr

Anthropology of the Middle East

Cover Anthropology of the Middle East
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
85–111
Keywords:
animal death; Istanbul; Khartoum; sacrifice; urban space
Print Publication Date:
01 Mar 2016
Online Publication Date:
01 Mar 2016
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2016

  • Abdelsalam, S. (1999), ‘Le sang du sacrifice chez les Soudanais de Wad Medani’, in Sacrifices en islam: Espaces et temps d’un rituel, (ed.) P. Bonte, A.-M. Brisebarre and A. Gokalp (Paris: CNRS Editions).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Agulhon, M. [1981] (1998), ‘Le sang des bêtes: Le problème de la protection des animaux en France au XIXe siècle’, in Si les lions pouvaient parler: Essais sur la condition animale, (ed.) B. Cyrulnik (Paris: Gallimard), 1184–1216.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Albera, D. (2013), ‘Rites et rituels’, in Dieu, une enquête. Judaïsme, christianisme, islam: Ce qui les distingue, ce qui les rapproche, (ed.) D. Albera and K. Berthelot (Paris: Flammarion), 457−553.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Benkheira, M. H., Mayeur-Jaouen, C. and Sublet, J. (2005), L’animal en islam (Paris: Les Indes savantes).

  • Benthall J. and Bellion-Jourdan J. (2003), The Charitable Crescent: Politics of Aid in the Muslim World (London: I.B. Tauris).

  • Bergeaud-Blackler, F. (2015), ‘Introduction – Le halal: du rituel alimentaire à l’espace normatif’, in Les sens du halal: Une norme dans un marché mondial, (ed.) F. Bergeaud-Blackler (Paris: Editions CNRS Alpha), 9−22.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bergeaud-Blackler, F., Fischer, J. and Lever, J. (ed.) (2015), Halal Matters: Islam, Politics and Markets in Global Perspective (London: Routledge).

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bonte, P., Brisebarre, A.-M. and Gokalp, A. (eds) (1999), Sacrifices en islam: Espaces et temps d’un rituel (Paris: CNRS Editions).

  • Bowen J. (2012). A New Anthropology of Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

  • Brisebarre, A.-M. (ed.) (1998a), ‘Mort et mise à mort des animaux’, Études rurales no. 147−148: 9−149.

  • Brisebarre, A.-M. (1998b), La fête du mouton: Un sacrifice musulman dans l’espace urbain (Paris: CNRS Editions).

  • Brisebarre, A.-M. and Kuczynski, L. (eds) (2009), La Tabaski au Sénégal: Une fête musulmane en milieu urbain (Paris: Karthala).

  • Cartry, M. (2002), ‘Sacrifice’, in Dictionnaire de l’ethnologie et de l’anthropologie, (ed.) P. Bonte and M. Izard (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France), 643–646.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Elias, N. [1939] (1991), La civilisation des mœurs (Paris: Calmann-Levy).

  • Estebanez, J. (2015), ‘Pour une ville vivante? Les animaux dans la fabrique de la ville, histoire d’une requalification partagée’, Les animaux dans la ville 1, Histoire Urbaine no. 44: 5−20.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ferrières, M. (2002), Histoire des peurs alimentaires: Du Moyen Age à l’aube du XXè siècle (Paris: Seuil).

  • Franck, A. (2007), ‘Produire pour la ville, produire la ville: Etude de l’intégration des activités agricoles et des agriculteurs dans l’agglomération du Grand Khartoum (Soudan)’ (PhD diss., University of Paris X, Nanterre).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Franck, A., Gardin, J. and Givre, O. (2015), ‘La mort animale rituelle en ville: Une approche comparée de la “Fête du Sacrifice” à Istanbul, Khartoum et Paris’, Les animaux dans la ville 1, Histoire Urbaine no. 44: 99−128.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Givre, O. (2006), ‘Un rite balkanique ou un rite dans les Balkans? Approches anthropologiques du kurban en Bulgarie et en Grèce du nord’ (PhD diss., Lumière University Lyon 2).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Givre, O. (2015), ‘“Tuer humainement”: l’animal rituel et sacrificiel entre licite et légal’, in Bêtes à pensées: Visions des mondes animaux, (ed.) M. Cros, J. Bondaz and F. Laugrand (Paris: Editions des Archives Contemporaines), 189–217.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Givre, O. (forthcoming), ‘Entre marketing rituel et gouvernance urbaine: Les économies morales en transformation de la Fête du sacrifice (Kurban Bayramı) à Istanbul’, in Économie politique des circulations et consommations au Moyen-Orient: Approches comparées et connectées d’Istanbul, Beyrouth, Erbil, Dubaï et Téhéran, (ed.) Y. Morvan and T. Boissière (Paris: Diacritiques Éditions).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gokalp, A. (1998) ‘Turquie: Le Kurban à Istanbul’, in La fête du mouton: Un sacrifice musulman dans l’espace urbain, (ed.) A.-M. Brisebarre (Paris: CNRS Editions), 224−245.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Haenni, P. (2008), ‘l’économie politique de la consommation musulmane’, Religioscope, Etudes et analyses 18, www.religion.info/pdf/2008_11_consommation.pdf (accessed 27 September 16)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hammoudi, A. (2005), Une saison à la Mecque: Récit de pèlerinage (Paris: Seuil).

  • Logie, S., Morvan, Y., Brodard, N. and Mülahim, S. (2014), ‘(Un)-building the Metropolis: Istanbul at the Age of “Urban Transformation”’, www.noria-research.com/un-building-the-metropolis-istanbul-in-the-age-of-urban-transformation/#_ftnref8.

    • Export Citation

  • Mahdi, M. (1998), ‘Maroc: La fête des supplices: Les caricatures de l’ayd al-kabîr’, in La fête du mouton: Un sacrifice musulman dans l’espace urbain, (ed.) A.-M. Brisebarre (Paris: CNRS Editions), 316–334.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Pamuk, O. (2007), Istanbul: Souvenirs d’une ville (Paris: Gallimard).

  • Pérouse, J. F. (2014), ‘Başakşehir (Istanbul), la “ville-épi”: De la marge urbaine épiphénomène au modèle urbain hégémonique’, in Marges urbaines et néolibéralisme en Méditerranée, (ed.) N. Semmoud, B. Florin, O. Legros and F. Troin (Tours: Presses universitaires François Rabelais), 83–104.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Pinauldt, G. (2014), ‘L’or vivant des Somali:. Des frontières, des troupeaux et des hommes face à la mondialisation des normes (un regard géopolitique sur les exportations de bétail dans la Corne de l’Afrique)’ (PhD diss., University of Paris 12, Saint-Denis).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Pink, J. (ed.) (2009), Muslim Societies in the Age of Mass Consumption: Politics, Culture and Identity between the Local and the Global (Cambridge: Scholars Publishing).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Porcher, J. (2011), Vivre avec les animaux, une utopie pour le 21ème siècle (Paris: La Découverte).

  • Reed, A. Y. (2013), ‘From Sacrifice to the Slaughterhouse: Ancient and Modern Approaches to Meat, Animals, and Civilization’, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 26, no. 2: 111–158.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Tripp, C. (2006), Islam and the Moral Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

  • Watts, S. (2006), Meat Matters: Butchers, Politics, and Market Culture in Eighteenth-century Paris (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Yahaya, N. (2015), ‘The Question of Animal Slaughter in The British Straits Settlements During the Early Twentieth Century’, Indonesia and the Malay World 43, no. 126: 173–190.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Yavuz, H. (2003), Islamic Political Identity in Turkey (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

  • Zarcone, T. (2004), La Turquie moderne et l’islam (Paris: Flammarion).

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 86 86 4
Full Text Views 11 11 0
PDF Downloads 3 3 0