Learning Islam through the Senses

Abstract

This article discusses how the visual and embodied storytelling methods of the theater may be used in the formation of Islamic knowledge. Examining productions staged by young women in Oslo in the tradition of the Twelver Shia theater, taʿziyeh/shabih, during commemorative rituals, I ask: How did producers and actors perceive theater to generate knowledge? How were visual and embodied storytelling methods used in conveying religious knowledge? What kind of knowledge was generated? Inspired by theater theory and post-structuralist semiotics, the analysis shows that the theater had transformative qualities that could contribute to cultural transmission, education, and moral and spiritual development. Knowledge was produced through sensorial communication, thinking, and understanding, and was held to emerge from the spectators’ and actors’ aesthetic and affective experiences, in addition to their abilities to create emotional relations with holy protagonists and the divine. The learning outcome was therefore presented as open-ended and invited young spectators and actors to take responsibility and reflect on how to act and respond in our time.