Beyond Karbala: New Approaches to Shi'i Materiality

This volume aims to expand the study of the visual cultures, aesthetic dimensions and materiality of religion by exploring the various ways material objects and somatic and sensorial experiences are represented, lived and embodied among diverse Shi‘i communities. The volume brings together scholars and experts from various disciplines concerned with the material and aesthetic expressions of Shi‘i religiosity in the contemporary world. We investigate the manifestations and transformations of Shi‘i materiality in the life-worlds of Twelver (Imami), Alawī-Nuṣayrī, Alevi and Bektashi communities in diverse geographical contexts ranging from Norway and Turkey to Albania, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kashmir, Kuwait and Lebanon.