PROJECTS
MIDDLE EAST

LOCALITY AND PIETY IN ISLAMIC NORTH AFRICA AND WEST ASIA
(1) Gebhard Fartacek | Zones of Uncertainty: Ritual and Taboo in the Near East from the Perspectives of Space and Time.
(2) Gebhard Fartacek | Pilgrimage Cities in the Syrian Periphery. An Ethnographic Study of the Cognitive Construction of Sacred Places and their Practical Relevance.
(3) Günther Windhager | From Lemberg to Mecca (1900-1927).The early biography of Leopold Weiss, alias Muhammad Asad.
(4) Barbara Danczul | “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” Local Strategies for Conflict Resolution of Violence and Revenge in Egypt.
(5) Ines Kohl | Identities between Boundaries: Strategies of Belonging among the Imajeghen (Tuareg) of Libya.
(6) Gudrun Kroner | Beyond the Ties of Home. A Comparison of Female Refugees in the Arabic-Islamic world.
(7) Johann Heiss | Anthropological Interpretations in Southwest Arabia.
 
 
 
GEBHARD FARTACEK | PILGRIMAGE CITIES IN THE SYRIAN PERIPHERY
An Ethnographic Study of the Cognitive Construction of Sacred Places and their Practical Relevance.
 
 
Pilgrimages to sites in the peripheral regions of Syria are not marginalized relics of the past. Indeed, despite globalization (or perhaps because of it) there has been a notable revitalization of many of these local sacred spaces.
 
Gebhard Fartacek’s project documented twenty pilgrimage sites in out-of-the-way locations in the Arabic Republic of Syria. Many of these sacred places are so-called holy “natural sites”, such as unusual trees, hot springs, and bizarre rock formations or caves that are linked to mythological events and therefore considered sacred.

 
Ethnographic field research and a systematic study of the relevant Arabic and Islamic sources formed the foundation of this documentation project. In addition to the textual and photographic study of these sites, Fartacek considered the theoretical question of how these locations are differentiated from profane ones, and what preconditions must be met for a place to be considered “sacred.” In addition, Fartacek considered the question of how understanding a “sacred place” helps to illuminate the religious and everyday actions of people.
 
From a social-anthropological perspective, the pilgrimage sites constitute “spatial centers of communication” that invert the routines of everyday life. This makes a special communication with God possible, and it also allows a special type of interaction among people that is not possible under “normal” circumstances. Sacred sites can become locations of truth, rehabilitation, and reconciliation.
 
Fartacek’s research received the Syrian Studies Award, and was published in 2003 as Pilgerstätten in der Syrischen Peripherie by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
 
 
 
Fartacek, Gebhard (2003): Pilgerstätten in der syrischen Peripherie. Eine ethnologische Studie zur kognitiven Konstruktion sakraler Plätze und deren Praxisrelevanz. Sitzungsberichte der philisophisch-historischen Klasse, 700. Band; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie, Volume 5. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press.
-> see publications

Fartacek, Gebhard (2003): Abels Grab. Stolleis, Friederike (ed.): Syrien verstehen. Sympathie Magazin des Studienkreises für Tourismus und Entwicklung. Ammerland.

 
     
 
 

Wittgenstein-Preis 2000
Kommission für Sozialanthropologie
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A-1040 Wien

Tel.: 0043/1/515 81 - 6677
Fax: 0043/1/503 68 73 - 6680
wittgenstein2000@oeaw.ac.at

Notice: We want to inform you that the research program will come to an end on the 31st of March 2007. Since that time this homepage will not be updated anymore.