The Shi‘a in Mumbai: Everyday life, religiosity and political subjectivity (completed)

Radhika Gupta


This project examines how ideas, ideologies and cultural flows from a transnational Shi‘ite realm shape everyday life and political subjectivity among Shia Muslims in India. Building upon my doctoral work in Kargil, it will initiate comparative research between a relatively rural, remote and border locale with a historically well-connected urban metropolis, Mumbai. In seeking to explore the texture of everyday life in relation to transnational cultural flows, I hope to conduct ethnographic research on material culture, modes of entertainment and leisure, and interactions in spaces where the divide between the sacred and quotidian are blurred. How does everyday life relate to Shia political subjectivity and what can this tell us about the relationship between religion, secularism and the public sphere more generally?

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