While sadly the Hajj of 2015 will be remembered for recent tragic
events, list members may be interested to know that during the
pilgrimage this year the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
has been featuring a gallery of 15 images drawn from my research on the
Hajj and British Muslims.
The gallery, which will be of interest to university teachers and
researchers across Islamic, Religious and Diaspora Studies, was one of
those selected to mark the AHRC’s tenth anniversary. It offers a ‘thick’
visual description of British Muslims’ connections to sacred place in
the context of transnational circulations of pilgrims, capital, objects
and ideas. While currently one of the banners on the AHRC’s front page,
the gallery can be permanently viewed at:
http:
The Hajj, Ethnography and British Muslims - Arts and Humanities Research
Council
Up to 25,000 British Muslims travel annually to Makkah to perform Hajj.
The great pilgrimage returns Muslims to the birthplace of their faith
and is a religious duty once in their lifetime.
Read more:
http:
Such images are elaborated on further in a British Academy funded web
resource and online exhibition at https://arts.leeds.ac.uk/hajj/. This
includes 30 x 2-3 minute, themed digital audio-clips drawn from in-depth
interviews collected among pilgrims, tour operators, community
organisations and others. My work began as part of AHRC-funded research
for the British Museum’s exhibition, Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam
http:
Finally, as well as an online exhibition, the website includes research
papers on the Cultural and Political Economy of Hajj-Going and
Pilgrimage and Performativity, as well as an industry-facing report and
radio interviews including commentary on last week’s events. See, for
example, BBC Radio 5 Live Drive, 24/09/2015: https://goo.gl/x6zyfj. To
find out more you can also follow me on Twitter @LeedsUniHajjRes
Thanks and best wishes,
Dr Seán McLoughlin
Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Muslim Cultures, Politics & Societies
School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science
University of Leeds, LS2 9JT