Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East

Soraya Altorki is Professor of Anthropology at the American University in Cairo (AUC). She is the author or co-author of five books and many journal articles and book chapters in the area of the anthropology of the Arab world, including studies on the family, gender, youth, religion, and political economy.

"...clear and engaging. Graduate sociocultural anthropology students, advanced undergraduates, and specialists will find this survey book valuable. Parts of this volume are also essential for policymakers since some of discussed anthropological themes are now at the core of contemporary world affairs." - Solaiman M. Fazel, AAA Book Forum

• Notes on Contributors xAcknowledgments xviiPreface xviiiPart I Introduction: Theoretical and Conceptual Issues 11 Enduring Concerns, Resilient Tropes, and New Departures: Reading the Companion 3Deniz Kandiyoti2 Theory and Thematics in the Anthropology of the Middle East 15Suad Joseph3 Structure/Agency and the Anthropology of the Middle East 40Soraya Altorki4 Reflections on the Politics of Middle East Studies 72Steven C. CatonPart II Culture and Everyday Life 895 The Politics of Aesthetics in the Muslim Middle East 91Martin Stokes6 Dreams and the Miraculous 107Amira Mittermaier7 Refiguring Islam 125Nada Moumtaz8 In the Garden of the Sexes: Of Men, Women, Gaze, and Hair 151Shahla Haeri9 Trajectories of Gendered Labor 172Livia Wick10 The Politics of Poetry 188J. Andrew BushPart III Social Relations and Social Movements 20511 Medical Anthropology in the Middle East and North Africa 207Jessica Newman and Marcia C. Inhorn12 From Rural Development to Environmental Anthropology 233Nicholas S. Hopkins13 Displacement and Dispossession in the Middle East 249Dawn Chatty14 Anthropology and Humanitarianism in the Middle East 262Ilana Feldman15 Anthropologies of Middle Eastern Diasporas 282Paul A. Silverstein16a The Invention of the Mizrahim 316Ella Shohat16b The Mizrahi Cinema of Displacement 329Ella Shohat17 Social Movements and Revolution 338Zeina ZaatariPart IV Law, Politics, and the State 36118 Justice between Islamic Sharia and Liberal Law: Remarks on the Egyptian Context 363Hussein Ali Agrama19 The Notion of Arab Culture and the “Colonial Present” 391Mayssoun Sukarieh20 Rethinking Anthropology of Neoliberalism in the Middle East 411Julia Elyachar21 “States of Aspiration”: Anthropology and New Questions for the Middle East 434Michelle Obeid22 Rethinking the “Post]Ottoman”: Anatolian Armenians as an Ethnographic Perspective 452Hakem Al]Rustom23 Reframing the Middle Eastern City: Thoughts on New Research 480Kamran Asdar AliPart V Pop Culture and New Media 49324 Middle Eastern Music and Popular Culture 495John Philip Rode Schaefer25 New Media and Electronic Networks 509Mark Allen PetersonIndex 526