Popular Sites of Prayer, Transoceanic Migration, and Cultural Diversity

Exploring the significance ofkeramatin Southeast Asia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3626458
AutoresSumit K Mandal (0000-0002-3041-7486, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, autor de correspondencia)
Año2012
Volumen46
Número2
Páginas355-372
Fecha de publicación2012-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x12000029
OpenAlexW2021756683
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas10

Keramatis the Malay word for the graves of notable figures which are popular sites of prayer and dot the social and physical landscapes of much of Muslim Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region as a whole. The term refers to both people as well as their burial sites. Historically,keramatdrew people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. While the venerated dead also came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, histories, and faiths, they were usually Muslim and frequently Hadrami (from the Hadramaut region in Yemen). In this paper, I viewkeramatas a significant site of social and cultural diversity. The study ofkeramat, and the transoceanic movement of the people and faith to which it is linked, may shed further light on the cultural interaction that has historically characterized the region. At the same time, the permissibility of the veneration of graves constitutes a terrain that has long been contested by Muslim scholars. As a result, the fate of this popular practice may offer insights into the complex process of Islamization in the region which began around 700 years ago. I explore two questions in particular. First, in what ways dokeramatembody cultural diversity? Secondly, where dokeramatstand in relation to state- and organization-driven Islam

Malay · Prayer · Veneration · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Asian Studies and History · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories