Gazing in the Eyes of the Martyrs: Four Theories of South Asian Shiʿi Visuality

Abstract

This essay presents an extended theoretical reflection on how South Asian Shiʿa visually engage with image-objects, notably the metal standard (ʿalam), and replica of Imam Husayn’s Karbala shrine-tomb (taʿziya). I present four theoretical lenses to theorize South Asian Shiʿi visual interactions: 1. Image acts; 2. Objects as assemblages imbued with thing power; 3. Images as focal objects of reciprocal gazing, and 4. The intersensorial nature of image-objects.