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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Religion and Custom in a Muslim Society: The Berti of Sudan

Religion and Custom in a Muslim Society: The Berti of Sudan

Holy, Ladislav
Fortes, Meyer
Ladislav, Holy

Paperback

Series: Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Book 78

IslamAnthropology

ISBN10: 052102496X
ISBN13: 9780521024969
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: Apr 13 2006
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.84
Height: 0.58 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Among the Berti of Northern Darfur (Sudan), as among many Muslim societies, the formal religious practices are predominantly the concern of men, while local, unorthodox customary rituals are performed mainly by women. It is usual to dismiss such local, popular practices as pre-Islamic survivals, but Professor Holy shows that the customary rituals constitute an integral part of the religious system of the Berti. Carefully analysing the symbolic statements made in Berti rituals, Professor Holy demonstrates that the distinction between the two classes of rituals is an expression of the gender relationships characteristic of the society. He also examines the social distribution of knowledge about Islam, and explains the role of the religious schools in sustaining religious ideas. The work is not only an ethnographic study of ritual, belief and gender in an African society. It also makes a significant contribution to current anthropological discussion of the interpretation and meaning of rituals and symbols.

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