Sufi Women, Embodiment, and the 'Self'

This book is an ethnographic case study of Sufi ritual practice and embodied experience amongst female members of the Naqshbandi community.

Jamila Rodrigues is a dance anthropologist currently working in Japan. She was awarded a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) fellowship to conduct research on Japanese women and well-being during times of crisis hosted by the International Research Centre in Kyoto (Nichibunken).

Introduction 1 The Salikun journey begins 2 From theory to practice 3 The inner Islam: an overview of Sufism and Sufi notions of the body 4 Dancing with God: hadra as sacred dance and cultural embodiment 5 'De-code' hadra: body movement analysis of the ritual practice 6 Symbolic embodied practice: the Sufi 'mystical body' and women's religious identity 7 Let the bird fly' ... somatic practice and hadra performance, the embodied experience 8 The salikun journey ends