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Suffering for Territory: Race, Place, and Power in Zimbabwe
by Donald S. MooreSince 2000, black squatters have forcibly occupied white farms across Zimbabwe, reigniting questions of racialized dispossession, land rights, and legacies of liberation. Donald S. Moore probes these contentious politics by analyzing fierce disputes over territory, sovereignty, and subjection in the country's eastern highlands. He focuses on poor farmers in Kaerezi who endured colonial evictions from their ancestral land and lived as refugees in Mozambique during Zimbabwe's guerrilla war. After independence in 1980, Kaerezians returned home to a changed landscape. Postcolonial bureaucrats had converted their land from a white ranch into a state resettlement scheme. Those who defied this new spatial order were threatened with eviction. Moore shows how Kaerezians' predicaments of place pivot on memories of "suffering for territory," at once an idiom of identity and entitlement. Combining fine-grained ethnography with innovative theoretical insights, this book illuminates the complex interconnections between local practices of power and the wider forces of colonial rule, nationalist politics, and global discourses of development. Moore makes a significant contribution to postcolonial theory with his conceptualization of "entangled landscapes" by articulating racialized rule, situated sovereignties, and environmental resources. Fusing Gramscian cultural politics and Foucault's analytic of governmentality, he enlists ethnography to foreground the spatiality of power. Suffering for Territory demonstrates how emplaced micro-practices matter, how the outcomes of cultural struggles are contingent on the diverse ways land comes to be inhabited, labored upon, and suffered for.
Suffering in Silence: The Links between Human Rights Abuses and HIV Transmission to Girls in Zambia
by Human Rights WatchSexual abuse of girls in Zambia fuels the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the strikingly higher HIV prevalence among girls than boys, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerted national and international efforts to protect the rights of girls and young women are key to curbing the AIDS epidemic's destructive course.
Suffering: Psychological and Social Aspects in Loss, Grief, and Care
by Robert DeBellis, Eric Marcus, Austin H. Kutscher, Carole Smith Torres, Virginia Barrett, and Mary-Ellen SiegelLearn to help others understand, cope with, and even overcome emotional and physical suffering. Suffering: Psychological and Social Aspects in Loss, Grief, and Care is a unique and insightful volume of observations, anecdotes, and case studies about suffering. In this important book, doctors, nurses, teachers, funeral directors, and members of the clergy discuss the crucial physical, emotional, and psychological issues that patients and their families must confront when death is imminent. They address a variety of topics including terminal illness, chronic illness, loss, grief, and pain. Ideal for professionals who work with dying people and their families, Suffering highlights topics that are particularly common when working with AIDS patients, cancer patients, children, the elderly, and the mentally ill.
Sufficiency Thinking: Thailand's gift to an unsustainable world
by Gayle C. AveryOur world is under pressure, with growing inequalities in wealth and access to food and clean water. We depend too heavily on polluting fuels and diminishing natural resources. Traditional cultural practices are being swamped by global popular culture.The Thai model of sufficiency thinking aims to transform the mindset of a whole population to achieve the seemingly impossible: enriching everyone's lives in a truly sustainable way.Innovative management practices developed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand have been applied across Thailand in agriculture, education, business, government and community organisations for over two decades.In this book, chapters written by eminent Thai scholars explain sufficiency thinking and review its implementation in different sectors including community development, business, agriculture, health care, schools, and even in prisons.Is Thailand unique in having discovered the holy grail of a more responsible form of capitalism? No, it is not, but it is the first country whose government has adopted this kind of thinking as national policy.'...we obviously need to revise dramatically our thinking about the outlines of a just economy and a decent society in which everyone can lead dignified lives. Sufficiency Thinking provides creative approaches to this quandary and this important volume is a brilliant addition to the growing literature critical of mainstream business-as-usual ideology.' - John Komlos, Professor Emeritus, University of Munich
Suffocating Mothers: Fantasies of Maternal Origin in Shakespeare's Plays, Hamlet to the Tempest
by Janet AdelmanAn original reading of Shakespeare's plays illuminating his negotiations with mothers, present and absent, and tracing the genesis of Shakespearean tragedy and romance to a psychologized version of the Fall.
Suffolk (Black America Series)
by Annette MontgomeryAfter the Civil War, African Americans throughout Suffolk and Nansemond County fought against injustice by demanding equality before the law, the right to vote, and equal access to schools, employment, and professions. Because of their tolerance and sense of fortitude, they were able to own land and businesses and to establish churches, schools, and social organizations that paved the way for generations to come.
Suffolk Folk Tales (Folk Tales: United Kingdom)
by Kirsty HartsiotisWith its wild eroding sea, its gentle rolling fields and tall churches, Suffolk is a county of contrasts. It may seem a kindly and civilised place, but in that sea, in the reed beds, the woods and even down dark town streets lurk strange beasts, ghosts and tricksters.These thirty traditional tales retold by storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis take you into a hidden world of green children and wildmen, of lovers from beyond the grave and tricksy fairy folk. Shaped by generations of Suffolk mardle and wit, in these stories you'll discover the county's last dragon, the secret behind Black Shuck, saintly King Edmund and heroic King Raedwald, haunted airfields, broken-hearted mermaids and the exploits of the county's cunning folk. Embark on this journey around Suffolk and you'll find you're never far from a story.
Suffrage and Its Legacy in the Nordics and Beyond: Gender, Institutional Constraints and Feminist Strategies (Gender and Politics)
by Lenita Freidenvall Josefina EriksonThis book reflects on the centennial of women's suffrage in the Nordic region and beyond, by exploring its relevance to political gender equality today and the conditions for feminist institutional change. The book brings together historians and political scientists to provide a long-term historical perspective that lays the groundwork for theoretical development. In this regard, the book makes two key contributions: it furthers our understanding of different types of gendered institutional constraints on women’s political inclusion and elaborates feminist institutional strategies to counter these constraints.
Suffrage and Its Limits: The New York Story
by Kathy HochulSuffrage and Its Limits offers a unique interdisciplinary overview of the legacy and limits of suffrage for the women of New York State. It commemorates the state suffrage centennial of 2017, yet arrives in time to contribute to celebrations around the national centennial of 2020. Bringing together scholars with a wide variety of research specialties, it initiates a timely dialogue that links an appreciation of accomplishments to a clearer understanding of present problems and an agenda for future progress. The first three chapters explore the state suffrage movement, the 1917 victory, and what New York women did with the vote. The next three chapters focus on the status of women and politics in New York today. The final three chapters take a prospective look at the limits of liberal feminism and its unfinished agenda for women's equality in New York. A preface by Lieutenant Governor Katherine Hochul and a final chapter by activist Barbara Smith bookend the discussion. Combining diverse approaches and analyses, this collection enables readers to make connections between history, political science, public policy, sociology, philosophy, and activism. This study moves beyond merely celebrating the centennial to tackle women's issues of today and tomorrow.
Suffrage at 100: Women in American Politics since 1920
by Stacie Taranto and Leandra ZarnowSuffrage at 100 looks at women's engagement in US electoral politics and government over the one hundred years since the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.In the 2018 midterm elections, 102 women were elected to the House and 14 to the Senate—a record for both bodies. And yet nearly a century after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, the notion of congressional gender parity by 2020—a stated goal of the National Women's Political Caucus at the time of its founding in 1971—remains a distant ideal. In Suffrage at 100, Stacie Taranto and Leandra Zarnow bring together twenty-two scholars to take stock of women's engagement in electoral politics over the past one hundred years. This is the first wide-ranging collection to historically examine women's full political engagement in and beyond electoral office since they gained a constitutional right to vote. The book explores why women's access to, and influence on, political power remains frustratingly uneven, particularly for women of color and queer women. Examining how women have acted collectively and individually, both within and outside of electoral and governmental channels, the book moves from the front lines of community organizing to the highest glass ceiling. Essays touch on • labor and civil rights• education • environmentalism• enfranchisement and voter suppression • conservatism vs. liberalism• indigeneity and transnationalism • LGBTQ and personal politics • Pan-Asian, Chicana, and black feminisms• commemoration and public history• and much more.Contributors: Melissa Estes Blair, Eileen Boris, Marisela R. Chávez, Claire Delahaye, Nicole Eaton, Liette Gidlow, Holly Miowak Guise (Iñupiaq), Emily Suzanne Johnson, Dean J. Kotlowski, Monica L. Mercado, Johanna Neuman, Kathleen Banks Nutter, Katherine Parkin, Ellen G. Rafshoon, Bianca Rowlett, Sarah B. Rowley, Ana Stevenson, Barbara Winslow, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Nancy Beck Young
Suffrage, Capital, and Welfare: Conditional Citizenship in Historical Perspective
by Fia Cottrell-Sundevall Ragnheiður KristjánsdóttirThis open access book examines disenfranchisement and voting barriers in ten self-governing and aspiring liberal democracies worldwide, before and after the introduction of so-called universal suffrage. Focusing on economic voting restrictions implemented through constitutional provisions and laws, it explores the various disqualifications that prevent people from voting. The notions of economic independence underpinning these restrictions have built and reinforced societal structures and power relations, particularly concerning class, gender, race, civil status, age, and education. Historically, voting rights have been celebrated as a symbol of inclusivity and equal citizenship. Yet, as contributors in this collection highlight, recent centennial celebrations of universal suffrage often depict it as a distinct milestone, overshadowing the voting restrictions that persisted post women’s suffrage. As democracy now faces new, concerted challenges, there is a compelling reason to revisit and question the narrative of the progression of democratic ideals.
Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote
by Ellen Carol DuBoisHonoring the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, this &“indispensable&” book (Ellen Chesler, Ms. magazine) explores the full scope of the movement to win the vote for women through portraits of its bold leaders and devoted activists.Distinguished historian Ellen Carol DuBois begins in the pre-Civil War years with foremothers Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojurner Truth as she &“meticulously and vibrantly chronicles&” (Booklist) the links of the woman suffrage movement to the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War, Congress granted freed African American men the right to vote but not white and African American women, a crushing disappointment. DuBois shows how suffrage leaders persevered through the Jim Crow years into the reform era of Progressivism. She introduces new champions Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul, who brought the fight to the 20th century, and she shows how African American women, led by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, demanded voting rights even as white suffragists ignored them. DuBois explains how suffragists built a determined coalition of moderate lobbyists and radical demonstrators in forging a strategy of winning voting rights in crucial states to set the stage for securing suffrage for all American women in the Constitution. In vivid prose, DuBois describes suffragists&’ final victories in Congress and state legislatures, culminating in the last, most difficult ratification, in Tennessee. &“Ellen DuBois enables us to appreciate the drama of the long battle for women&’s suffrage and the heroism of many of its advocates&” (Eric Foner, author of The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution). DuBois follows women&’s efforts to use their voting rights to win political office, increase their voting strength, and pass laws banning child labor, ensuring maternal health, and securing greater equality for women. Suffrage: Women&’s Long Battle for the Vote is a &“comprehensive history that deftly tackles intricate political complexities and conflicts and still somehow read with nail-biting suspense,&” (The Guardian) and is sure to become the authoritative account of one of the great episodes in the history of American democracy.
Suffragette Fascists: Emmeline Pankhurst & Her Right-Wing Followers
by Simon WebbA look at the leader and members of the militant Women’s Social and Political Union and their contribution to the rise of fascism during the 1930s.Emmeline Pankhurst is seen today as a valiant champion of democracy, but in the 1930s certain prominent former suffragettes were comparing her to Hitler and Mussolini. It was suggested that Mrs. Pankhurst and her Women’s Social and Political Union could be viewed as a proto-fascist movement; an idea likely to strike the modern reader as grotesque. Yet the WSPU certainly had much in common with the fascist parties that emerged after the end of the First World War. The group was financed by wealthy and aristocratic backers, and terrorism, in the form of bombing and arson, was widely used against working-class men and women. This, together with the rampant anti-Semitism and ambivalent attitude to democracy, all indicate that there was more to the suffragettes than we now realize. Few people today, for example, know that Emmeline Pankhurst was an advocate of ethnic cleansing and the use of concentration camps, nor that her daughter was imprisoned during the Second World War for pro-Nazi activities. This helps to explain how former suffragettes came to hold such important positions in the British Union of Fascists in the years before the Second World War. After all, the ideology and structure of Oswald Mosley’s fascist party was so eerily similar to that of Emmeline Pankhurst’s Women’s Social and Political Union. “Fascinating . . . The book looks into the new leaders of the WSPU, their thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, the blackshirts, before the war, during and after.” —UK Historian
Suffragette Manifestos (Penguin Great Ideas)
by Various'We women are roused. Now that we are roused, we will never be quiet again'Bringing together the voices of women who fought for equal rights and representation - from aristocrats and actresses to mill workers and trade unionists - these speeches, pamphlets, letters and articles form an inspiring testament to the power of a movement.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.
Suffragette The Battle For Equality
by David RobertsImprisonment, hunger strikes, suffrajitsu — the decades-long fight for women’s right to vote was at times a ferocious one. Acclaimed artist David Roberts gives these important, socially transformative times their due in a colorfully illustrated history that includes many of the important faces of the movement in portraiture and scenes that both dignify and enliven. He has created a timely and thoroughly engaging resource in his first turn as nonfiction author-illustrator. Suffragette: The Battle for Equality follows the trajectory of the movement in the U.K. and visits some key figures and moments in the United States as it presents the stories of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, and many more heroic women and men — making it a perfect gift for young readers of today. Dr. Crystal Feimster of Yale’s Department of African American Studies contributes a foreword that speaks to the relationship and differences between the British and American suffrage efforts.
Suffragettes of Kent
by Jennifer GodfreyA thought-provoking insight into the stories of hope, determination, courage and sacrifice of those involved in the women&’s suffrage movement in Kent. Discover an untold story of a young working-class Kent maid involved in the suffrage movement. See photographs of Ethel and learn of her arrest and imprisonment in March 1912 for participating in the window-smashing militant action. The 1908 Women&’s Freedom League and the 1913 Women&’s Social and Political Union tours of Kent are retraced, their messages and the Kent inhabitants&’ reactions explored. Details are included of Kent&’s involvement in the National Union of Women&’s Suffrage Societies&’ mass pilgrimage from all parts of the country to London in 1913. Revealing the part Maidstone Gaol played in forcible feeding of suffragette prisoners the book includes an account written by the gaol&’s lead medical man. The many links between national suffrage movement leaders and pioneers and Kent are included in accounts of the visits, speeches and actions of Charlotte Despard, Emmeline Pankhurst, Annie Kenney, Emily Wilding Davison and Millicent Fawcett. Discover who was imprisoned in Maidstone Gaol, which pioneer was stoned by a Kent audience during her speech, who interrupted a Kent Liberal meeting in Tunbridge Wells, which woman challenged their Kent audience to do more for the cause and who was much celebrated on her visit to a Kent seaside town. &“Vivid accounts of the abuse of and hardships experienced by the suffragette movement in the county of Kent. One of the most moving histories of the movement in Pen and Sword&’s brilliant series.&” —Books Monthly
Suffragettes of Kent
by Jennifer GodfreyA thought-provoking insight into the stories of hope, determination, courage and sacrifice of those involved in the women&’s suffrage movement in Kent. Discover an untold story of a young working-class Kent maid involved in the suffrage movement. See photographs of Ethel and learn of her arrest and imprisonment in March 1912 for participating in the window-smashing militant action. The 1908 Women&’s Freedom League and the 1913 Women&’s Social and Political Union tours of Kent are retraced, their messages and the Kent inhabitants&’ reactions explored. Details are included of Kent&’s involvement in the National Union of Women&’s Suffrage Societies&’ mass pilgrimage from all parts of the country to London in 1913. Revealing the part Maidstone Gaol played in forcible feeding of suffragette prisoners the book includes an account written by the gaol&’s lead medical man. The many links between national suffrage movement leaders and pioneers and Kent are included in accounts of the visits, speeches and actions of Charlotte Despard, Emmeline Pankhurst, Annie Kenney, Emily Wilding Davison and Millicent Fawcett. Discover who was imprisoned in Maidstone Gaol, which pioneer was stoned by a Kent audience during her speech, who interrupted a Kent Liberal meeting in Tunbridge Wells, which woman challenged their Kent audience to do more for the cause and who was much celebrated on her visit to a Kent seaside town. &“Vivid accounts of the abuse of and hardships experienced by the suffragette movement in the county of Kent. One of the most moving histories of the movement in Pen and Sword&’s brilliant series.&” —Books Monthly
Suffragism and the Great War
by Vivien NewmanJoin Dr Vivien Newman, arm in arm, with some of the formidable women of the pre-First World War suffrage and anti-suffrage movements as, on the declaration of war, they turn their considerable skills, honed over 50 years of active campaigning, to both support of the war and the pursuit of peace.Get to know how these women could bend politicians' wills to their own, challenge and break the many role-norms of contemporary patriarchal society, raise hundreds of thousands of pounds in voluntary contributions and help convince the US public to join the Allied Cause.This book explodes many myths, including the simplistic idea that it was women's war service alone which led to their partial enfranchisement in 1918 as some form of reward from a grateful nation.Vivien Newman reveals a social tapestry which is both complex and infinitely fascinating, one of old friendships broken and new ones formed, shifting alliances and bitter rivalries, of loyalties and even betrayals.
Sufi Castigator: Ahmad Kasravi and the Iranian Mystical Tradition (Routledge Sufi Series #Vol. 19)
by Lloyd RidgeonSufi Castigator investigates the writings of Ahmad Kasravi, one of the foremost intellectuals in Iran. It studies his work within the context of Sufism in modern Iran and mystical Persian literature and includes translations of Kasravi’s writings. Kasravi provides a fascinating topic for those with interests in Sufism and Iranian studies as he attempted to produce a form of Iranian identity that he believed was compatible with the modern age and Iranian nationalism. His stress on reason and the de-mystification of religion caused him to repudiate Sufism and much of the Sufi literary heritage as backwards and believed it a reason for the weakness of modern Iran. Kasravi’s historical observations were weak, and his writings indicate that he was working towards pre-determined conclusions. However, his works are of significance because they contributed to a major discussion in the 1930s to 1940s about the ideal image and identity that Iranians should adopt. Despite the academic weaknesses of Kasravi’s works he had a profound effect on the next generation of thinkers. Sufi Castigator is stimulating and meticulously researched book and includes two lengthy translations of Kasravi’s works, Sufism and What does Hafez Say? and will appeal to scholars of middle eastern studies.
Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan
by Annika SchmedingDespite its pervasive reputation as a place of religious extremes and war, Afghanistan has a complex and varied religious landscape where elements from a broad spectrum of religious belief vie for a place in society. It is also one of the birthplaces of a widely practiced variant of Islam: Sufism. Contemporary analysts suggest that Sufism is on the decline due to war and the ideological hardening that results from societies in conflict. However, in Sufi Civilities, Annika Schmeding argues that this is far from a truthful depiction. Members of Sufi communities have worked as resistance fighters, aid workers, business people, actors, professors, and daily workers in creative and ingenious ways to keep and renew their networks of community support. Based on long-term ethnographic field research among multiple Sufi communities in different urban areas of Afghanistan, the book examines navigational strategies employed by Sufi leaders over the past four decades to weather periods of instability and persecution, showing how they adapted to changing conditions in novel ways that crafted Sufism as a force in the civil sphere. This book offers a rare on-the-ground view into how Sufi leaders react to moments of transition within a highly insecure environment, and how humanity shines through the darkness during times of turmoil.
Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam (Routledge Studies in the Qur'an)
by Kristin SandsMeeting the ever increasing interest in Islam and Sufism, this book is the first comprehensive study of Sufi Qur’anic commentaries and includes translations of many writings previously unavailable in English. It examines the shared hermeneutical assumptions of Sufi writers and the diversity in style of Sufi commentaries. Some of the assumptions analyzed are: * the Qur’an is a multi-layered and ambiguous text open to endless interpretation * the knowledge of deeper meanings of the Qur’an is attainable by means other than transmitted interpretations and rational thought * the self is dynamic, moving through states and stations which result in different interpretations at different times. The styles of Sufi commentaries are explored, which range from philosophical musings to popular preaching to literary narrative and poetry. Other commentaries from the classical period are also investigated to provide context in understanding Sufi approaches and exegetical styles.
Sufi Deleuze: Secretions of Islamic Atheism
by Michael Muhammad Knight“There is always an atheism to be extracted from a religion,” Deleuze and Guattari write in their final collaboration, What Is Philosophy? Their claim that Christianity “secretes” atheism “more than any other religion,” however, reflects the limits of their archive. Theological projects seeking to engage Deleuze remain embedded within Christian theologies and intellectual histories; whether they embrace, resist, or negotiate with Deleuze’s atheism, the atheism in question remains one extracted from Christian theology, a Christian atheism. In Sufi Deleuze, Michael Muhammad Knight offers an intervention, engaging Deleuzian questions and themes from within Islamic tradition. Even if Deleuze did not think of himself as a theologian, Knight argues, to place Deleuze in conversation with Islam is a project of comparative theology and faces the challenge of any comparative theology: It seemingly demands that complex, internally diverse traditions can speak as coherent, monolithic wholes. To start from such a place would not only defy Islam’s historical multiplicity but also betray Deleuze’s model of the assemblage, which requires attention to not only the organizing and stabilizing tendencies within a structure but also the points at which a structure resists organization, its internal heterogeneity, and unpredictable “lines of flight.”A Deleuzian approach to Islamic theology would first have to affirm that there is no such thing as a universal “Islamic theology” that can speak for all Muslims in all historical settings, but rather a multiplicity of power struggles between major and minor forces that contest each other over authenticity, authority, and the making of “orthodoxy.” The discussions in Sufi Deleuze thus highlight Islam’s extraordinary range of possibilities, not only making use of canonically privileged materials such as the Qur’an and major hadith collections, but also exploring a variety of marginalized resources found throughout Islam that challenge the notion of a singular “mainstream” interpretive tradition. To say it in Deleuze’s vocabulary, Islam is a rhizome.
Sufi Narratives of Intimacy
by Sa'Diyya ShaikhThirteenth-century Sufi poet, mystic, and legal scholar Muhyi al-Din ibn al-'Arabi gave deep and sustained attention to gender as integral to questions of human existence and moral personhood. Reading his works through a critical feminist lens, Sa'diyya Shaikh opens fertile spaces in which new and creative encounters with gender justice in Islam can take place. Grounding her work in Islamic epistemology, Shaikh attends to the ways in which Sufi metaphysics and theology might allow for fundamental shifts in Islamic gender ethics and legal formulations, addressing wide-ranging contemporary challenges including questions of women's rights in marriage and divorce, the politics of veiling, and women's leadership of ritual prayer. Shaikh deftly deconstructs traditional binaries between the spiritual and the political, private conceptions of spiritual development and public notions of social justice, and the realms of inner refinement and those of communal virtue. Drawing on the treasured works of Sufism, Shaikh raises a number of critical questions about the nature of selfhood, subjectivity, spirituality, and society to contribute richly to the prospects of Islamic feminism as well as feminist ethics more broadly.
Sufi Political Thought (Routledge Religion in Contemporary Asia Series)
by Milad MilaniSufism is generally perceived as being spiritually focused and about the development of the self. However, Sufi orders have been involved historically as important civic and political actors in the Muslim world, having participated extensively in inter-faith dialogue and political challenges to religious orthodoxy. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the Sufi political tradition, both historically and in its present form. It outlines how Sufi thought has developed, examines how Sufism has been presented both by scholars and by Sufis themselves, and considers Sufis’ active political roles. It argues that Sufis – frequently well educated, well travelled and imaginative – have been well placed to engage with other faiths and absorb their ideas into Islam; but that they have also been, because they understand other faiths, well placed to understand the distinctiveness of Islam, and thereby act as the guardians of Islam’s core ideas and values.
Sufi Ritual: The Parallel Universe (Routledge Sufi Series)
by Ian Richard NettonThis study reveals the world of Sufi ritual with particular reference to two major Sufi orders. It examines the ritual and practices of these orders and surveys their organisation and hierarchy, initiation ceremonies, and aspects of their liturgy such as dhikr (litany) and sama (mystical concert). Comparisons are made with the five pillars of Islam (arkan), and the Sufi rituals, together with the arkan, are examined from the perspective of theology, phenomenology, anthropology and semiotics. The work concludes with an examination of the Sufi in the context of alienation. This is a major work which highlights the importance of Sufi ritual and locates it within the broader domain of the Islamic world.