• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd (Jan 2010)
• ISBN-10: 1848851685
• ISBN-13: 978-1848851689

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Material-Culture-Iranian-Shiism/dp/1848851685/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237203579&sr=8-1

In the political and religious sphere Shi’ism has been the official religion of Iran since the beginning of the 16th century, and numerous academic studies have focused on this phenomenon: on the Muharram rituals, the Ta’ziya plays, Shi’ite theology and of course the post-revolutionary politics of Shi’ite Iran. Yet surprisingly little serious study has been carried out to bring these politico-religious and cultural spheres together, to trace the way in which Shi’ite rule and Shi’ite theology have interacted with the architecture, art and material culture of Iran during this period. By and large, the art and material culture of Shi’ite Iran has been discussed within its own limits, and all too little has been written about the relationship of Shi’ism to art or to more general material culture in Iran. This edited book is one of the first ever interdisciplinary and pluridisciplinary academic studies on the art and material culture of the Islamic periods of Iran, from the Safavids (1501-1732) until the present day. More than ten eminent academics have employed different methodologies (history, history of art, anthropology, ethnography, folklore and religion studies) to explore their experiences of the art and especially the material culture of Shi’ism in Iran, and also other countries in which Shi’ite communities are found. In this edited book our aim, therefore, is to provide the opportunity to share ideas, enable interaction between individuals and above all to increase our understanding of the nature of the art and material culture of Shi’ite Iran.