As always, I am excited to attend the annual American Academy of Religion (AAR - https://www.aarweb.org/annual-meeting) conference. This year it is in Denver, Colorado (so close to home!), running from November 17-20, 2018. I will be presenting a paper entitled “Bodies in Translation: Esoteric Conceptions of the Muslim Body in Early-modern South Asia” as part of the Material Islam seminar. The theme for this year’s session was the body, and I was thrilled that the organizers accepted my proposal. My paper draws on one of my dissertation chapters, in which I analyze how the esoteric breathing practices known in Persian as `ilm-i dam (“the science of the breath”) complicate our understanding of religious boundaries in South Asia. I am looking forward to reconnecting with friends and colleagues during the conference. If you’re interested in hearing more, come sit in on the panel! We meet on Monday, November 19th, 9:00-11:30 a.m., Denver Convention Center-707 (street level). As a teaser, here is a key quote from one of the manuscripts I discuss in the paper, along with a photo of the folio from which this quote is taken:

“First, that the entire human body is held together with veins (rig-ha).

It is necessary that one of these veins has information (khabar).

Second, namely that the veins of the body are the source of the human breath, which appears from those veins.

Third, one should know that each breath (nafas) individually goes by three paths.

The first is from the right side, they say it is of the sun.

The second is from the left side, they say it is of the moon.

The third is in the middle of two nostrils, they say it is heavenly (asmani).

Every breath (dam) has a special quality.”

Miz al-Nafas, British Library Delhi Persian 796d (London), folio 57b-58a.