Other Shiʿa groups and practices

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Tuesday (9a)

Belief and language performance practices in the global Isma'ili community: Ginan

Note: Recall that unlike the Sunni world, Shia Islam is clearly divided into numerous faith communities, depending in part on the acknowledged lineage of imams within the broader genealogy of the Prophet's family, but always tracing back to Ali, Muhammad's first cousin and son in law, and his wife Fatima. Recall this family tree (and this slightly expanded version.

Today we will focus on the Nizari branch of the Ismaʿili communities, sometimes called "Sevener" as opposed to the mainstream "Twelver" (Ithā ʿAshariyya), which is particularly prominent here in Canada, as well as in East Africa, and South Asia. The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of this community (and the benefactor of our beautiful UofA Aga Khan Garden in Edmonton, as well as the wonderful Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Among the many programs of the Aga Khan Development Network is the Aga Khan Music Programme, with whom I have been working in partnership on several projects, including the Aswan Music Project, and Borderless Flows.


Due today

  • Read these two articles by our special guest, Dr. Karim Gillani, PhD, and submit a brief review of the two together.

Also browse the following youtube videos to get a sense of the different genres:


  1. Ismaili Qasida (Persian): https://youtu.be/n9IJ6W2R8T4?si=QpTQnzhxU9K1WP7d
  2. Ismaili Ginan: (Urdu/Hindi): https://youtu.be/PaR6QfeEeW8?si=g37Ri0Fjjmbn5en2
  3. Ismaili Persian Kalam: https://youtu.be/azzYJJRFg98?si=a_0tz_XyNQjiCWmk
  4. Ismaili Arabic Qasida: https://youtu.be/OfZY-yZ43So?si=PeAvsLhTVwd8IQZ3
  5. Persian Qasida: Nasir-e- Khusraw: https://youtu.be/vXaYCnC1lmA?si=hdoFNw3LlBDgpXaL
  6. Ginan with moral story: https://youtu.be/3-gsLRNr35g?si=3itb_Bac9cgi2G7Z
  7. Ismaili Geet in various languages celebrating Navroz Festival: (Good example for Diaspora): https://youtu.be/T2x4y0gKWGY?si=dRlhX6yw5RRMSXr6

Class

  • Presentation by Dr. Gillani, and discussion.

Thursday (9b)

TBD

Due today

Class

Report and discussion: Hemmasi, Farzaneh. 2013. “Intimating Dissent: Popular Song, Poetry, and Politics in Pre-Revolutionary Iran.” Ethnomusicology 57 (1): 57–87. https://doi.org/10.5406/ethnomusicology.57.1.0057. Tobin

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