“A Season in Mecca” - New book about real participant observation as a mecca pilgrim

Priceton University presents a new book which might be an example for good anthropological writing. It's a book about the Hajj-pilgrimage to Mecca by anthropologist Abdellah Hammoudi:

Written in the first person, “A Season in Mecca” reads like a novel and is filled with descriptions and personal reflections. It follows a narrative structure, starting with journal entries Hammoudi wrote at his Princeton home before embarking for North Africa and the Middle East, and ending with his departure from Saudi Arabia, which is where Mecca and other sites central to the hajj are located.

Approximately 2 million Muslims travel to Mecca annually. The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam — along with profession of faith, prayer, fasting and alms giving. It is obligatory for every Muslim man or woman, who has the means, to do once in a lifetime. "According to Muslim tradition, the hajj purifies you from sin, puts you on the right path, and brings the mercy of God in you for a good life here and in the hereafter", says anthropologist Abdella Hammoudi, author of the book which became available in English in January.

Hammoudi grew up in Morocco and moved later to France. He says, he knew that the project would be “problematic” for him because of the tension he felt arose from his dual education (both religious and secular). But, and this is interesting, "it was precisely this cultural and educational hybridity that he saw as integral to his study of the hajj".

"I would not have done this [project] as an anthropologist without that sense of existential risk-taking. I went as a cultural Muslim with empathy, and also with distance. I went also with the openness to take the risk to revise everything I had lived with until now."

>> read the whole story

>> read an excerpt of the book (OpenDemocracy)

>> Review of the book in the Christian Science Monitor: He traveled to Mecca in search of himself

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The Secret of Good Ethnographies - Engaging Anthropology Part III