Work, ritual, biography : a Muslim community in North India

Review "This book, an ethnographically-rich study of a community of Muslim handloom weavers in village north India...contributes to the scholarly understanding of the social, economic, and religious activities and identity of contemporary Muslims in India through a case study...the book isinteresting....Mehta explores the fluidity of ritual, and he captures this aspect in his detailed analysis....a thought-provoking monograph."--Journal of Ritual Studies"A welcome addition to the literature on the anthropology of work and to the analysis of Muslim communities in India."--Choice"There is much that is commendable in Work, Ritual, Biography. Mehta's emphasis on the importance of how the body, space, and time are structured and on how each interrelate with one another and with tradition makes for an unusually detailed case presentation...This monograph should be of interestto culturalists, especially those specializing in Islamic societies."--American Journal of Sociology Product Description Mehta here provides an ethnographic account of a community of Muslim weavers in Ansari north India. He focuses particularly on the nature of weaving, its links with the sacred, and its central role in the social structure.