Text and Performance in the Hikmät of Khoja Ahmad Yasawi

Rachel HARRIS

doi:https://doi.org/10.12975/pp2152-2168

Article Details

Text and Performance in the Hikmät of Khoja Ahmad Yasawi

Authors:

Rachel HARRIS

Publisher:

Genç Bilge Yayıncılık (Young Wise)

Main Topics:

Sociology and anthropology

Journal:

Rast Musicology Journal 2019 Vol.7 Issue 2, pp.2152-2168

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

11/2019

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2000777687

Frequency:

Quarterly

eISSN:

2147-7531

pISSN:

2147-7361

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12975/pp2152-2168

Keywords:

Abstract:

 

In this chapter I discuss an aspect of Uyghur religious practice, which is at the time of writing under severe threat in the Uyghur homeland. I trace the patterns of circulation of sung hikmät, considering the ways that these Turkic language prayers link the Uyghur communities of Xinjiang to other parts of the Turkic speaking world through the circulation of written and published texts. I draw on recent debates on the relationship between orality and literacy, and consider how they help us to think about hikmät as they were performed in ritual contexts in Uyghur communities until very recently. I argue that oral and textual traditions of hikmät interact constantly and closely, creating "feedback loops" of transmission and performance. This perception impels a reassessment of our assumptions around projects of canonization of Central Asian performance traditions.

 

In this chapter I discuss an aspect of Uyghur religious practice, which is at the time of writing under severe threat in the Uyghur homeland. I trace the patterns of circulation of sung hikmät, considering the ways that these Turkic language prayers link the Uyghur communities of Xinjiang to other parts of the Turkic speaking world through the circulation of written and published texts. I draw on recent debates on the relationship between orality and literacy, and consider how they help us to think about hikmät as they were performed in ritual contexts in Uyghur communities until very recently. I argue that oral and textual traditions of hikmät interact constantly and closely, creating "feedback loops" of transmission and performance. This perception impels a reassessment of our assumptions around projects of canonization of Central Asian performance traditions.

Article Details

Text and Performance in the Hikmät of Khoja Ahmad Yasawi

Authors:

Rachel HARRIS

Publisher:

Genç Bilge Yayıncılık (Young Wise)

Main Topics:

Sociology and anthropology

Journal:

Rast Musicology Journal 2019 Vol.7 Issue 2, pp.2152-2168

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

11/2019

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2000777687

Frequency:

Quarterly

eISSN:

2147-7531

pISSN:

2147-7361

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12975/pp2152-2168

hikmät

yasawi

text

performance

sufism

uyghur

Issues

Article Details

Text and Performance in the Hikmät of Khoja Ahmad Yasawi

Authors: Rachel HARRIS

Publisher: Genç Bilge Yayıncılık (Young Wise)

Main Topics: Sociology and anthropology

Journal: Rast Musicology Journal 2019 Vol.7 Issue 2, pp.2152-2168

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 11/2019

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 2000777687

Frequency: Quarterly

eISSN: 2147-7531

pISSN: 2147-7361

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12975/pp2152-2168

hikmät

yasawi

text

performance

sufism

uyghur

Issues

Authors:

Rachel HARRIS

Publisher:

Genç Bilge Yayıncılık (Young Wise)

Main Topics:

Sociology and anthropology

Journal:

Rast Musicology Journal 2019 Vol.7 Issue 2, pp.2152-2168

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

11/2019

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2000777687

Frequency:

Quarterly

eISSN:

2147-7531

pISSN:

2147-7361

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12975/pp2152-2168