The Friends of God-Sufi Saints in Islam: Popular Poster Art from Pakistan

by Frembgen, Jurgen Wasim

• ISBN13: 9780199065943
• ISBN10: 0199065942
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Modern poster-portraits depicting Sufi saints and their shrines are a vivid medium of piety and devotion. These colourful, visually fascinating and powerful prints are particularly signifi cant for the study of contemporary views of the South Asian Sufi tradition shared by the common people.Unfolding a world of imagination, they reflect the visual aesthetics of folk art and pop art steeped in exuberance and playfulness. Through comprehensive documentation and analysis, this book aims to introduce the genre of popular Sufi poster art for the first time to a wider readership.

Author Biography

Juergen Wasim Frembgen is Chief Curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as Privatdozent (Private Lecturer) in Islamic Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg. Since 1981 he is teaching anthropology and Islamic Studies at different universities in Germany; in addition he has been a visiting lecturer at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad (National Institute of Pakistan Studies), the National College of Arts in Lahore and Ohio State University in Columbus. Since 1981 he annually conducts ethnographic fieldwork in Pakistan. He has published over ninety articles and fifteen books and catalogues, many of which deal with Islam, Sufism, veneration of Muslim saints, material culture, the anthropology of the body, social outsiders, and popular culture in the Eastern Muslim world between Iran and India, particularly focusing on Pakistan.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
1. Embodying Charisma and Love
2. Piety and Devotion
3. Sufi Saints and Shrines in Pakistan
4. Reflections on Popular Sufi Poster Art
References to the Saints
Bibliography