In Amma's Healing Room
Author | : Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger |
Publisher | : Indiana University Press |
Total Pages | : 319 |
Release | : 2006-04-26 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780253112019 |
ISBN-13 | : 025311201X |
Rating | : 4/5 (01X Downloads) |
Download or read book In Amma's Healing Room written by Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-26 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[I]t is extremely salubrious to see the ways Islam works in the lives of ordinary people who are not politicized in their religious lives. . . . No other book on South Asia has material like this." —Ann Grodzins Gold In Amma's Healing Room is a compelling study of the life and thought of a female Muslim spiritual healer in Hyderabad, South India. Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger describes Amma's practice as a form of vernacular Islam arising in a particular locality, one in which the boundaries between Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity are fluid. In the "healing room," Amma meets a diverse clientele that includes men and women, Muslim, Hindu, and Christian, of varied social backgrounds, who bring a wide range of physical, social, and psychological afflictions. Flueckiger collaborated closely with Amma and relates to her at different moments as daughter, disciple, and researcher. The result is a work of insight and compassion that challenges widely held views of religion and gender in India and reveals the creativity of a tradition often portrayed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike as singular and monolithic.