Seriousness is achieved when a speaker effectively moves the audience according to his or her intentions. But seriousness is fragile and subject to countless vicissitudes, as illustrated in an encounter with the television evangelist Oral Roberts. I interrogate one of the means used to counter such vicissitudes-hyperbole. Hyperbole may include exaggeration and amplification of all kinds, and may be manifest in deeds as well as words. I first follow hyperbole through 9/11 and the competing ideologies of Salafi jihadists and the Bush administration to show how 'absolute metaphors' are enlisted hyperbolically. I examine too how epic narratives are created as a similar form of hyperbole. Finally, I show how sacredness, another allied form of hyperbole, is attributed to the Holocaust in present-day Germany. Throughout I argue, and illustrate, how anthropological writing is of necessity ironic, such that irony is better than 'cultural relativism' as an understanding of the anthropological enterprise.
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2012
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 51–75 (25 total)
Islam, Travel, and Learning
A Case Study on Indonesian Muslim Student Diasporas in Saudi Arabia
Sumanto Al Qurtuby
related to the role of Saudi-trained Indonesian students and scholars in the introduction, spread, and growth of the so-called Salafi da'wa movement and some forms of puritanical and reformist Islam in Indonesia ( Hasan 2005 ; Bubalo, Phillips, and
Le salafisme quiétiste en France
Un exemple d’apolitisme militant ?
Mohamed-Ali Adraoui
-Salaf al-Salih). Est dès lors salafi tout fidèle désireux de mettre ses pas dans ceux des premiers épigones de l’islam, essentiellement les Compagnons du Prophète Muhammad et les deux générations suivantes selon une de ses paroles célèbres 1 . Par la suite
In French Politics, Culture & Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2017
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 103–125 (23 total)
Danger, Moral Opacity, and Outrage
Fear of Jihadism and the Terrorist Threat in Southern Mali
Tone Sommerfelt
trend of alarmist discourse about Muslim reform movements in milieus in Bamako. With the transformation of the northern conflict from a Tuareg rebellion to a complex emergency involving al-Qaeda-linked militants and Salafi jihadist groups, and with the
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jan 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 23–39 (17 total)
Sheikhs and the City
Urban Paths of Contention in Sidon, Lebanon
Are John Knudsen
singular and orthodox version of Sunni Islam that alienated many and gave rise to popular resentment, Islamic activism, and Salafi militancy in places like Tripoli and Sidon. The regional dominance of Beirut's Sunni clerical families and their privileged
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 34–51 (18 total)
Commitment, Convergence, Alterity
Muslim-Christian Comparison and the Politics of Distinction in the Netherlands
Daan Beekers
for spiritual experiences of feeling close to God, especially—but not only—through salat (ritual prayer). Some of them also criticized Salafi teachings for being “too rigid.” Yet in very similar ways, the young Muslims and Christians I worked with
In Social Analysis
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 118–124 (7 total)
Navigating the Politics of Anxiety
Moral Outrage, Responsiveness, and State Accountability in Denmark
Mette-Louise Johansen
was pregnant with the son of her dead husband. On her return, Aisha faced her husband’s family, who were in mourning over their lost son. Her father-in-law was part of a controversial orthodox religious community in Aarhus and frequented a local Salafi
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jan 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 9–22 (14 total)
“Montag ist wieder Pegida-Tag!”
Pegida’s Community Building and Discursive Strategies
Helga Druxes
media, and it embraces not only Pegida, but Hogesa [Hooligans Against Salafis] and anti-refugee protest groups like ‘no to refugee homes.’ The net is the site where the movement’s fuel catches fire.” 15 Violent rhetoric is not necessarily confined
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2016
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 17–33 (17 total)
Finbarr Barry Flood and Jaś Elsner
early-twentieth centuries, for example, reformist Muslims, including those who identified themselves as Salafis, mobilized against relic and shrine veneration. In response, supporters of both harnessed new technologies such as lithography and photography
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2016
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 116–138 (23 total)
From the Throes of Anguished Mourning
Shi‘i Ritual Lamentation and the Pious Publics of Lebanon
Fouad Gehad Marei
inform my understanding of the cultivation of the modern, moral self. Similarly, Richard Gauvain's (2013) analysis of Salafi ritual ablution and purity in two Cairene localities and Anna Gade's (2004) and Julia D. Howell's (2015) work on emotive Qur
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 133–147 (15 total)