Reflections.- Seni Silat Haqq Melayu: A Sufi Martial Art.- Silat: Art, Magic and Performance.- Echoes.- The Performance of Enchantment.- The Enchantment of Performance.- Doubles.- The Guru Silat.- Social and Aesthetic Drama.- Shadows.- Divination and Revelation.- Deathscapes of the Malay Martial Artist.
Dr. Douglas Farrer earned a doctorate in social anthropology from the National University of Singapore in the Department of Sociology in 2006. His thesis focused upon the Malay martial art, silat. Dr. Farrer has practiced martial arts since 1975 and is a qualified instructor in kung fu and silat. Dr. Farrer resided in Singapore and Malaysia from 1998 to 2007; he is currently Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Guam.
"Shadows of the Prophet is the eagerly awaited monograph on the
practice of silat - the Malay art of self defence - based on
extended ethnographic research by anthropologist, and silat adept,
Douglas Farrer. This is a genuinely pathbreaking work which returns
the ethnography of the Malay World to some of its traditional
concerns, at the same time revealing the formative influence of
so-called 'mystical' Sufi traditions on the religious life of
modern Malays. A must read for anyone with an interest in modern
forms of religious mysticism, 'traditional' martial arts in the
contemporary world and the Sufi undercurrents in Southeast Asian
Islam at the turn of the 21st century". Joel S. Kahn, La Trobe
University, Australia
"This book exemplifies the potentials of performance
ethnography. Being himself a dedicated practitioner of
martial arts there is no doubt that Farrer has achieved insights
into his subject that have not been available to other
researchers. No other work on silat has achieved this level
of inside understanding of the phenomenon or of its remarkably
transnationalised context today, nor has there been one that at the
same time has so much new to say about Islam, art, embodiment and
performance." Roxana Waterson, National University of Singapore
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