This book offers an ethnographic account of Shia mourning rituals in contemporary Iran, focusing on practices such as processions, chest-beating, pilgrimage, and self-flagellation. Drawing on fieldwork and theoretical reflection, it examines how these embodied rituals intersect with state power, modern governance, and religious discourse. At its core is the oscillation between instrumentalist appropriations of ritual by the state and the enduring logic of the Shia discursive tradition—a historically grounded framework shaping norms, authority, and practice. Through this lens, the book contributes to debates on ritual, resistance, and authority, revealing the limits of state control over religious affect and meaning.

This book offers an ethnographic account of Shia mourning rituals in contemporary Iran, focusing on practices such as processions, chest-beating, pilgrimage, and self-flagellation. Drawing on fieldwork and theoretical reflection, it examines how these embodied rituals intersect with state power, modern governance, and religious discourse. At its core is the oscillation between instrumentalist appropriations of ritual by the state and the enduring logic of the Shia discursive tradition—a historically grounded framework shaping norms, authority, and practice. Through this lens, the book contributes to debates on ritual, resistance, and authority, revealing the limits of state control over religious affect and meaning.