[Oman-L] Research in Muscat: Zoroastrian funerals and Avesta eschatology

[Tina Hamrin-Dahl]

Hello, after research on the Alevis of Turkey and a book, published in
September 2006,  I have started a new research project. Since some of the
roots of the Alevi religion are Zoroastrian, and I lecture on religions in
Central Asia at Stockholm University, Zoroastrianism has been central. I am
about to write a research report on the Zoroastrian guestworkers in Muscat,
compared to those in Dubai. I will write about the history of Zoroastrianism
in the area, but I focus on funerals, and was recently in Mumbai, to
interview Parsi priests who are taking care of dead bodies (putting them in
the towers for the kites and other birds of prey). I have started learning
some Arabic, and I am reading everything that I can find about Oman,
especially books about Ibadiyya.
I just came back from Dubai and Riyadh (where I had a meeting with an
Egyptian expert on Oman). My head informant in Muscat is a Pakistani woman,
who plays a very important role in the Zoroastrian community there. I am
going to do fieldwork in Muscat during the fall (Dubai back and forth in
June, July and August, for interviews and the Parsi New Year on the 20th of
August). Since I give lectures at the university in Stockholm and will start
a new course after the summer (on Islam in Central Asia), I can not stay in
Muscat for long periods, but will go back and forth, to observe the
Zoroastrian community, mostly Parsis from Pakistan and India. To put it in a
very general way, it is important for Zoroastrian believers to get the body
of a dead relative or friend on an airplane, and send it to Mumbai within
two days, for the towers and the birds, that is, a proper funeral. But there
are other solutions, not always so good, since a non-traditional Zoroastrian
funeral is questionable, considering Zoroastrian eschatology. Phenomena that
I will find out more aboutŠ
Well, since I find the religious situation in Oman much more interesting
than the one in Dubai, this project might lead to something else, with
Ibadiyya in focus. I am learning about the Ibadis, and  the Kharijites (even
if the Omani Ibadis are not Kharijites).
Oman will be my field of research for at least three years, and if I slide
into Ibadi studies, I can create a new research project, maybe a parallell
investigation that is part of my other Omani work (with Zoroastrians in
focus). In that case, I have three more years in Oman. Would it then be good
to study Ibadi funeral rituals? Or Ibadi eschatology? Is anyone belonging to
the list an expert on Ibadi funerals? Or Zoroastrian funerals?
 
I have my PH.D in the History of Religions, and an MA in Political Science,
(specialized in nationalism and etnicity questions, or rather, identity
questions). Well, in the 1970¹s, I got my first B.A. (and a B.E.) and became
a teacher in Physical Education, and in the 1980¹s, I became a journalist,
(but after the Scool of Journalism, I never worked as a journalist!).
Another B.A. in Nederlandistics was necessary when I did research on witch
accusations in the medieval Netherlands, and witch cases in today's South
Africa. Now I am a researcher at Stockholm University and a senior lecturer
(born in 1956).
 
 
All the best,
Tina
 
 
 
 
Dr.
Tina Hamrin Dahl (sometimes Hamrin-Dahl), formerly Hamrin
Dept. of South- and Central Asian Studies (Central Asian Studies was merged
with Indology in January 2007)
Stockholm University
106 91 Stockholm
Sweden
Email: hamrin.dahl at bredband.net
http://www.orient.su.se/centralasia/department.html