Post-secular Anthropology as Recognition and the Limits of Understanding
Social Analysis June 1, 2023 DOI: 10.3167/sa.2023.670202 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Muslims in Morocco who described experiences of possession by jinn spirits |
| Key points | Argues that a post-secular anthropology should recognize, rather than translate, religious experiences such as jinn possession, accepting that what the other says has significance. Contends that these accounts call for engaging the broader Islamic tradition they draw on, and explores the space for possibility and the limits of understanding by putting Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology, as a critique of Descartes's dualism, into dialogue with a discussion in the Islamic tradition between al-Ghazālī and Ibn Sīnā. |
Abstract
Abstract This article contributes to discussions around a post-secular anthropology that seek to engage seriously with religious traditions and theology. Conversations in Morocco with Muslims who experienced possession by jinn spirits point to the importance of recognition. To understand those experiences risks translating them into my concepts. Recognizing them accepts that what the other says has significance. They call me to visit the broader Islamic tradition that they creatively draw on in an effort to decenter my own thinking and to open up to possibility. This space for possibility and the limits of understanding are explored by putting into dialogue Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology as critique of Descartes's dualism of mind and world, with a discussion in the Islamic tradition, between al-Ghazālī and Ibn Sīnā.