SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Overview

Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Senior Teaching Fellow

Name:

Mr Igor Cherstich

Email address:

ic3@soas.ac.uk

Thesis title:

70.000 Secrets: Sufism and Esoterism in contemporary Libya

Internal Supervisors

• Gabriele vom Bruck

Biography

Libya, Secrecy, Miracles, Rituals, Religion and the State, Sufism, Salafism, Family Narratives, Tribalism, Youth, Theory in Anthropology, Mortuary Archaeology.

PhD Research

My research is based on a fifteen months field-work carried out in the cities of Tripoli, Zlitan and Misurata . In particular, my thesis focuses on the Issawiya, a Libyan Sufi brotherhood that has often attracted the curiosity of western observers due to the spectacular nature of its ritual performances. For centuries Libyan Issawis have made use of a specific secret knowledge that has allowed them to perform karamat (“miracles”). Even though these miraculous performances are attested both in the colonial literature and in local narratives today the majority of the Issawis dismiss karamat as outdated practices that are in contrast with the dictates of the Qur’an.

Bearing this in mind, one would be tempted to say that the Issawiya has embraced a more ‘disenchanted’ approach to Islam. In my thesis, however, I challenge this assumption. More specifically, I demonstrate that Issawis have not lost their belief in miracles, but only changed their attitude towards secrecy. Though still very much interested in divine manifestations and supernatural phenomena, Issawis feel the need to distance themselves from the secret practices of the past in order to demonstrate the ‘transparency’ and orthodoxy of their religiosity. In order to understand why the brotherhood has ‘lost’ its secrets, I contextualise the Issawiya within the broader political scenario of  Libya, paying particular attention to the impact of the dictatorial regime of Gheddafi on Sufism. In doing so I demonstrate that Libya’s political framework has forced Issawis to re-articulate the role of secrecy in their practices, but I also identify some internal dynamics of the brotherhood that have contributed to this ‘loss of secrets’.

In addition to my anthropological work in Western Libya, I am a member of the archaeological mission of the Gabriele D’Annunzio University in Eastern Libya. I have also worked as an archaeologist in the country surveying and studying sections of the Necropolis of Cyrene (Shahat –Eastern Libya). I have been consulted as an expert of current Libyan affairs by Universities (University of Leiden – Van Vollenhoven Institute), Press Agencies (Agence France Presss- AFP), Organisations (Human Rights Watch), Newspapers (Corriere della Sera), Radio (Radio Svizzera), and Television (ABC Australia, Channel Four). I have acted as peer-reviewer for the “Journal of North-African Studies” and the “American Journal of Archaeology”, and I have participated to a project for the renewal of the ethnographic museum of Shahat (Eastern Libya) (Groma SRL).

PhD Publications

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS:

• (Forthcoming) “Re-Shaping the Colonel: Satire and Citation in the Libyan Revolution”, In Beyond the Arab Spring – the Aesthetics and Politics of Popular Revolt, P.Werbner & K. Spellman (Eds.).
• (2009) “Violent Dialogues between Mourners and Tombs: Disfiguring Cyrenean Cemeteries in Imperial Times” (with Luca Cherstich), in The Archaeology of Destruction, Racozky, L. (Ed.), 210 – 238. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle.

ARTICLES:

• (2011) “Libya’s Revolution: Tribe, Nations, Politics”, In Open Democracy ,  3rd October http://www.opendemocracy.net/igor-cherstich/libyas-revolution-tribe-nation-politics.
• (2011) “Struggling for a Framework – Prolegomena to the Study of the Libyan Issawiya”, In Libyan Studies, 42, 59-68. Oxford: Society for Libyan Studies.
• (2011) “Libya: Tribal War or Popular Revolution?” In The Middle-East in London, 7,9, 7. London: London Middle East Institute-SOAS.
• (2008) “Oroscopo e Astrologia come Ideologie Leggere nell’Europa Contemporanea”, In Studi Etno-Antropologici e Sociologici, 36, 35-43, Naples:  S.e.a.s. Napoli, collana "Prisma".
• (2008) “Invisible Rituals and Cyclical Trends in the tombs of Haleg Stawat”, In SOMA 2005, Symposium of  Mediterranean Archaeology, L.Cherstich, O. Menozzi, D. Fossataro & M.L. Di Marzio (Eds),  121-128, Oxford:  British Archaeological Review, International Series 1391.
• (2006) “Il Vocabolario Archetipico di una disciplina Mitopoietica (Apologia di una terminologia meravigliosamente imprecisa)”, In Studi Etno-Antropologici e Sociologici, 34, 87-95, Naples:  S.e.a.s. Napoli, collana "Prisma".
• (2005) “Votive Niches in Funerary Architecture in Cyrenaica, Libya” (with E. di Valerio, M. Carinci, G. D’Addazio, A. Cinalli, F. Siciliano) In SOMA 2003, Symposium of Mediterranean Archaeology,   J.Green, A.Kaldelis, A.Stellatov (Eds), 53-58, Oxford: British Archaeological Review; International Series 1391.
• (2005)  “Jalal Al-ahmad e Richard Burton: L’Esperienza Liminale di due pellegrini senza fede”, In  Studi Etno-Antropologici e       Sociologici, 33, 90-97, Naples:  S.e.a.s. Napoli, collana "Prisma".

NEWSPAPERS and BLOGS:

• (2012)  “Religious Violence in Libya – Who is to Blame?”, In Huffington Post, 5th December http://www.huffingtonpost.com/igor-cherstich/religious-violence-in-lib_b_2245265.html.
• (2012) “Persecution of Sufis in Libya is a Relic of Qaddafi’s Stratagem”, In The National, 5th Deecember.
• (2011) “Da Tripoli a Benghasi il Rebus delle Tribu’, Vera Incognita del dopo –Gheddafi”, In Il Corriere  della Sera, 22nd June.
• (2011) “Qaddafi’s Corpse dispels the Illusions Conjured by his Rule”, In The National, 24th  October.
• (2011)” Qaddafi Death Shows he Was just a Man”, In Huffington Post,  26th October.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/igor-cherstich/qaddafi-dead_b_1033463.html.
• (2011)” Libyan Sanusis, Libyan Citizens”, In Sufi News and Sufism World Report, 6th September http://sufinews.blogspot.com/2011/09/libyan-sanusis-libyan-citizens.html.

REVIEWS:

• (2011) Response to Issandr El Amrani’s “Is there a Libya?”, In The London Review of Books,  33, 14.

TOURISTIC GUIDES:

• (2004) “Un Culto tra Polis e Chora: Il Santuario di Demetra e Kore a Wadi - Bel Gadir” In Laserpiciferae Cyrene – Viaggio nella Città del Silfio, 38, Pescara: Università Gabriele D’Annunzio.

PhD Conferences

• “…Ma il Segreto è in Libia: Le fratellanze Sufi della Libia Occidentale”, paper presented at the conference Dalla Libia viene sempre qualcosa di Nuovo, University of Chieti (Italy), 8 – 9 May 2008.
• “First of all you need a Visa”, short paper presented at the workshop “Fieldwork in dangerous or difficult places and/or with vulnerable populations”, hosted by the Political Science Department (Faculty of Law and Social Sciences), School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 19 February 2009.
• “The Anthropologist asa Text: Witnessing a miracle in Eastern Libya”, paper presented at the conference Anthropology in London: Current Research (III) 2009, hosted by University College London, 15 June 2009.
• “Keep it in the Family: Death of Secrets and Family affairs in Modern Libyan Sufism”, paper presented at the Workshop on Modern History and Politics of Libya, hosted by the African Studies Centre, St. Anthony’s College, University of Oxford, 10-11 July 2009.

PhD Affiliations

• Recipient of the “Borsa di studio per la specializzazione di studenti Italiani all’estero” (University of Bologna); Fürer-Haimendorf Foundation for Anthropological Research Grant; Central Research Fund - CRF - Grant (2006 and 2007); Spalding Trust Foundation Grant (2006, 2007, 2008); Society for Libyan Studies Grant (2007 and 2008).
• ASA - Radcliffe-Brown Trust.