In Amma's Healing Room

Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger is Professor of Religion at Emory University and author of Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India.

. . . [H]er book, like all ethnographies, should also be read between the lines—Flueckiger was concerned that by publishing her material she would bring public attention to forms of Islam criticized by other Muslims; she also analyses very sensitive dimensions of Amma's role as a healer—notably the part she plays in Hindu-Muslim conversion processes. All in all, In Amma's Healing Room is a well-written ethnographic study of a complex and sensitive domain of Muslim religious experience and, as such, is a very welcome addition not only to the expanding body of anthropological work on Islam as a world religion. It broadens the anthropological understanding of the various forms taken by Islamic religious authority and offers new insights into the vitality and diversity of Muslim ritual practices in South Asia.- Magnus Marsden (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) This informative study is well illustrated with the author's photographs and immensely suitable for undergraduate and graduate students. . . . Highly recommended.(Choice) This book is a compelling ethnographic study . . . Flueckiger's work goes a long way towards shattering the categories and fixed identities commonly associated with South Asia. . . . The emphasis on gender makes this work even more invaluable for anyone trying to study religion in South Asia, or indeed, Islam, as a lived experience.V.29.2 July 2009(South Asia Research) In Amma's Healing Room is a terrific book. Well structured and well written, it will be a great addition to courses on religious ethnography, popular and contemporary Islam, South Asian religions, ritual studies, and gender studies. 88.2, April 2008(the Journal of Religion) Only rarely are books powerful enough to capture the imaginations and emotions of our students: this is one such book.Vol. 48.1 May 2009- Susan Snow Wadley (Syracuse University) . . . In Amma's Healing Room is a well-written ethnographic study of a complex and sensitive domain of Muslim religious experience and, as such, is a very welcome addition not only to the expanding body of anthropological work on Islam as a world religion. It broadens the anthropological understanding of the various forms taken by Islamic religious authority and offers new insights into the vitality and diversity of Muslim ritual practices in South Asia. Vol.15. 1 March 2009- Magnus Marsden (School of Oriental and African Studies) . . . This is a timely ethnography . . . in a time in which the high volume of negative religious rhetoric about Islam and in the name of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity have subsumed the centrality of love in religious teachings and rituals.(Anthropological Quarterly)

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsA Note on TransliterationIntroduction: Called to Amma's Courtyard1. Setting the Stage: The Healing Room, Its Actors, and Its Rhythms2. The Healing System3. Patient Narratives in the Healing Room4. Negotiating Gender in the Healing Room5. Religious Identities at the Crossroads6. Immersed in Remembrance and Song: Religious Identities, Authority, and Gender at the Sam?Conclusion: Vernacular Islam Embedded in RelationshipsEpilogueAppendix: Death and Difference: A ConversationGlossaryNotesSelect BibliographyIndex