Begging Bowls, Exuberant Feasts and A Donkey's Tomb: Sufi Appearance, Connection to Shrines & Place in Folklore in 19th Century Asia

CESSI Lecture Series: "Begging Bowls, Exuberant Feasts, and A Donkey's Tomb: Sufi Appearance, Connection to Shrines, & Place in Folklore in 19th Century Asia"  

About the speaker: Jack Rowe works for the Department of Defense and lives in Ankara, Turkey. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Languages and Cultures of Asia where his dissertation research is focused on Sufism in 19th century Central Asia.  

About the lecture: With a few notable exceptions, the study of Central Asian Sufism in the 19th century is relatively underdeveloped. Though scholars have done much to demonstrate the role of Sufis in the social, cultural, economic, and political life of the region in this period, no attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of what Sufism “looked” like has yet been undertaken. This talk will illuminate parts of that picture, providing glimpses of Sufi dress, connection to shrines, and their place in local folklore.