|
Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Contemporary non-Christian & para-Christian cults & sects
In a treeless land far north of the Arctic Circle, the I\u00f1upiat
live immensely practical lives, yet they have a profound belief in
the spirit world. For them, everything-whether living being or
inanimate object-has a spirit. This outlook reflects their sense of
the connectedness of all life. The Hands Feel It is the account of
one person's experience among the I\u00f1upiat. Anthropologist
Edith Turner records occurrences of healing, spirit manifestation,
and premonition in her narrative of a year in the life of an Eskimo
community. Her diary captures for the reader sea ice, tundra,
gravel beaches, and a determined and cheerful population. Sights,
sounds, and even smells that Turner encounters provide context for
a study in tune with the spiritual. Accounts that ethnographers
have often termed "myth" and "legend" Turner sees from a different
point of view-not as mere stories but as real events the
I\u00f1upiat sincerely report to her. The value of Turner's work
originates in her own connection to spirituality and in the growing
receptiveness of the I\u00f1upiat to her.
The Shi'is of Iraq provides a comprehensive history of Iraq's
majority group and its turbulent relations with the ruling Sunni
minority. Yitzhak Nakash challenges the widely held belief that
Shi'i society and politics in Iraq are a reflection of Iranian
Shi'ism, pointing to the strong Arab attributes of Iraqi Shi'ism.
He contends that behind the power struggle in Iraq between Arab
Sunnis and Shi'is there exist two sectarian groups that are quite
similar. The tension fueling the sectarian problem between Sunnis
and Shi'is is political rather than ethnic or cultural, and it
reflects the competition of the two groups over the right to rule
and to define the meaning of nationalism in Iraq. A new
introduction brings this book into the new century and illuminates
the role that Shiis could play in postwar Iraq.
|
|