'Ashura in Sydney

Abstract

'Ashura is a Shi'i religious ceremony organised yearly by the Moslem Shi'is around the world. The Shi'is in Sydney have been commemorating 'Ashura in an increasingly elaborate and sophisticated manner. The aim of this paper is to examine the formal and symbolic transformation of the ceremony in the context of migration and in particular the way it comes to articulate elements of the "migrant conditions". Along with its highly dramatic content, 'Ashura in Sydney is transformed into a practice where the ethnic identity of Shi'i migrants is reproduced and at the same time modified to come to terms with the conditions of living in a new urban environment. In an increasingly globalised world, local and global factors are appropriated in the very process of celebrating 'Ashura and producing the Shi'i identity.