The ashura assemblage: Karbala’s religious urban fabric and reproduction of collective shi’i identity

Abstract

Assemblage theory complicates an already extensive literature on religious urbanity, cultural heritage, the social construction of space and the power of place. Nevertheless, the concept can be applied to social and religious history in locations such as West Asia. As this paper argues, avoiding dichotomous and politicised treatments of Karbala in dynamics of the Sunni-Shia divide and debates concerning the so-called “Karbala Paradigm”, the “Ashura Assemblage” demonstrates how space contributes to the reproduction of collective Shi’i identity in Karbala. It outlines aspects of territoriality and sacralised Shi’i rituals, tracing constantly recurring connections between various sacred spots, spaces and places of ritual. This study then illustrates how collective Shi’i identity is mnemonically connected to Ashura-oriented spaces. This study utilises representational tools such as maps and diagrams to depict Karbala’s religious urban landscape. Ethnographic fieldwork and an array of primary and secondary source research uncover granularities in the Ashura Assemblage, suggesting a more prominent role for interpretive approaches to atomistic assemblages of urban religious spaces.