The WAU 2025 Congress (Antigua, Guatemala) webpage and call for panels are now open - Please visit waucongress2025.org for more info.

WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Not just spiritual: Sufi orders in modern India, administrations, organizations, functions.

presenters

    Anastasia Kinyaeva

    Nationality: Russia

    Residence: Russia

    N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences

    Presence:Face to Face/ On Site

Anthropologists and religion scholars have long been fascinated by Sufism, its unique practices, and its elaborate philosophy. The appeal and perceived uniqueness of it being so strong that in the modern world, Sufism, in the perception of many people, got completely separated from the perception of what Islam is, not just in the western world but even in the regions where Sufi orders originate from. Behind the vile of mysticism, cultural syncretism, and popular spirituality, however, are the actual communities of Sufis who are most definitely Muslim and who have to adapt to modern times, saving their identity on the one hand and creating new structures and ways to manage their communities on the other. In this paper, we will examine the modern structure and practices of the Sufi order Chishtiya in India and try to understand how the community manages and conducts itself.

Keywords:

Sufism, India , Chishtiya