The Iranian Metaphysicals: Explorations in Science, Islam, and the Uncanny

Description

What do the occult sciences, seances with the souls of the dead, and appeals to saintly powers have to do with rationality? Since the late nineteenth century, modernizing intellectuals, religious leaders, and statesmen in Iran have attempted to curtail many such practices as "superstitious," instead encouraging the development of rational religious

Alireza Doostdar is assistant professor of Islamic Studies and the anthropology of religion at the University of Chicago.

"Winner of the Vinson Sutlive Book Prize, Anthropology Department of William & Mary" "Winner of the 2018 Albert Hourani Book Award, Middle East Studies Association" "Important and highly original."---Nile Green, Los Angeles Review of Books "Alireza Doostdar's The Iranian Metaphysicals stands as a rigorous and thoughtful contribution to this scholarship. Drawing on a rich ethnographic archive, Doostdar gives us a superbly argued and highly original exploration of Iran's 'metaphysical explorers.'"---Charles Hirschkind, Immanent Frame "The Iranian Metaphysicals provides valuable insights not only to scholars of Iran or Islamic studies, but also to those interested in global and comparative approaches to the politics of religion, cultural studies, and histories of the occult."---Elise K. Burton, International Dialogue