2009
Michel Boivin et al., « MIFS Newsletter n°3 », HAL-SHS : géographie, ID : 10670/1.sbt7on
The first half of the year 2009 was very busy for several reasons. The study group "History and Sufism in the Valley of the Indus" organized a one-day conference in January on Plurality of sources and interdisciplinary approach: a case study of Sehwan Sharif in Sindh. It was attended by senior scholars such as Claude Markovits (CNRS-CEIAS) or Monique Kervran (CNRS), as well as doctoral students such as Annabelle Collinet and Johanna Blayac, and also "post-docs" such as Frédérique Pagani (p. 4-5). The conference was also attended by Sindhis from the very small community settled in Paris. In the same period, two professors working on Sufism in Pakistan were invited by the EHESS. Pnina Werbner, professor of Anthropology at Keele University, was invited by IISMM, an institute centred on the Muslim world and affiliated to EHESS. Professor Werbner delivered conferences on topics related to Sufism, and she also headed a workshop for Ph.D. students. She wrote a seminal paper on Transnationalism and Regional Cults: The Dialectics of Sufism in the Plurivocal Muslim World (p. 6-7) which will be put online on the forthcoming MIFS website. Professor Richard K. Wolf, professor of Ethnomusicology at Harvard University, was invited in May by the EHESS, by Marie-Claude Mahias (CNRS-CEIAS). He delivered four lectures, the first one devoted to Nizami Sufism in Karachi and Delhi. Professor Wolf gave a talk at the study group "History and Sufism in the Valley of the Indus" on "Music in Shrine Sufism of Pakistan" (CEIAS, 28 May 2009). It was a fascinating experience since Professor Wolf studied dhammâl performed at Madho Lal Hussain, in Lahore. Professor Wolf's interview by Dr Frédérique Pagani gives clues for comparing dhammâl in Lahore and in Sehwan Sharif (p. 2-3). In this third issue, we also took the initiative of publishing a translation of some excerpts of Sindhi literature (p. 8-9). These are panjrâs, Sindhi poetry with five verses devoted to the Indus divinity, Udero Lâl. The panjrâs are translated by an Indian Sindhi academic, Dr. Charu Gidwani, Associate Professor at R. K. Talreja College, affiliated to Mumbai University (India). She is the daughter of a leading "sindhologist", Dr. Parso Gidwani (1932-2004), himself a pioneer in Ethnolinguistics. This sacred literature was not easily available for Western readers before her translation.