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Michael Gilsenan

Michael Gilsenan is professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at New York University. His books include Lords of the Lebanese Marches.

From the London Review dated 20 March 2003

Out of the Hadhramaut

“On one occasion a proud Indonesian aunt took me through the ‘eleven bloods’ of her shyly patient ten-year-old nephew, each blood indicated quite clearly in her account by a bodily feature, skin colour, hair texture, eye shape, bone structure and so on. Who does and does not ‘look Arab’ is a source of much conversation, often highly amused though occasionally charged.” [ read more . . . ]

Selected bibliography

  • Lords of the Lebanese Marches: Violence and Narrative in an Arab Society (1995)
  • Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Arab World (1983)
  • Saint and Sufi in Modern Egypt: Essay in the Sociology of Religion (1973)

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In the LRB archive

And you, what are you doing here? · 19 October 2006

  • A Season in Mecca: Narrative of a Pilgrimage by Abdellah Hammoudi, translated by Pascale Ghazaleh  Buy this book

Out of the Hadhramaut · 20 March 2003

Manager of Stories · 3 September 1998

  • Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples by V.S. Naipaul

Not currently in the LRB archive

 not available in archive Diary · 1 October 1998

From the LRB letters page