CSI Monday Majlis: Edith Szanto
Mourning and Performing: Twelver Shi'ism in Ba'ath Syria
Register please on this link: https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/U4Yl0PCMRYS7s9x-wO4f2A
| An Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies seminar | |
|---|---|
| Date | 17 November 2025 |
| Time | 17:00 to 18:30 |
| Place | Online Only |
| Organizer | IAIS |
Event details
Abstract
Abstract:
Dr Szanto’s recent book, Twelver Shi‘i Self-flagellation Rites in Contemporary Syria: Mourning Sayyida Zaynab, examines contested Muharram practices, as well as the institutions and authorities that promoted or condemned them until 2011, when most Shi‘is fled Syria. For 40 years, the Syrian shrine town of Sayyida Zaynab was a place of miracles, where violence engendered healing.
Bio:
Edith Szanto is an Associate Professor in Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. Prior to coming to Alabama in 2019, she taught at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani for eight years. She obtained her PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto in 2012. Dr. Szanto works on Syria and Iraq, modern Twelver Shi‘ism, mourning rituals, and more recently, religious conversion.
