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RECONSTRUCTING THE SUFI SHRINE AS A LIVING CULTURAL HERITAGE: CASE OF SHRINE OF SHAH ABDUL LATIF BHITAI, SINDH (PAKISTAN) Dissertation (Phd thesis) to obtain the academic doctorate degree submitted to the Bauhaus University Weimar Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism Under the Urban Heritage Programme Internal Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Eckardt External Supervisor: Dr. Hasan Ali Khan (Pakistan) Masooma Mohib Shakir Weimar, Germany 2018 Masooma Shakir 2 Masooma Shakir 3 MASOOMA MOHIB SHAKIR CURRICULUM VITAE Masooma Shakir is an architect and an urban researcher. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research focusing on urban and spatial issues in relation to historic environments. She has keen interest in cultural heritage and its contextual associations. Her doctoral research looks at the local religious and cultural heritage of Sufi shrines in the region of Sindh. Her work is analytical, aiming to decipher the vocabulary / components of the regional tangible and intangible culture of a particular place as a system / language. Apart from this, she has been involved in urban research projects within the Architecture department of NED University, as well as outside it on the documentation / analysis of multiple urban issues of the mega city of Karachi. Her masters thesis was an urban design proposal for the futuristic development of CBD in a direction that protects the heritage areas of the city. Urban research and documentation activities have not been limited to the city of Karachi and Masooma has ventured into the research activities exploring the smaller towns and secondary cities in Sindh in particular. She has been part of the faculty at the Architecture and Planning Department at the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi as Assistant Professor since 2007. She has been involved in design teaching, theory courses including Urban Planning and Design, Research Methodology and Environment Studies. She has been a dynamic participant in various research projects and academic activities within the department. She has been a part of the Editorial team of the Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning at the Department previously and has also acted as Advisor / Senior Coordinator of Design Studio Group (DSG). The Design Studio Group is a design faculty group that was formed as a forum to discuss and develop design studio teaching, bringing and sharing new ideas and practices. She also carried out several small and big scale, residential and commercial, interior design and architecture projects as well as heritage adaptive reuse projects. Personal Details: Surname: Shakir Name: Masooma Mohib Place and Date of Birth: Lahore (Pakistan); 10 November 1977 Nationality: Pakistani Email: Masooma Shakir 4 Research papers presented in International Conferences Presented a paper at the Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud - CEIAS (Center for South Asian Studies) Paris on 'Rituals, Social Hierarchies and their relationship to Place: Case of Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Bhitshah', as part of the ongoing Phd study, for the Conference on 'How to Study Shared Sacred Spaces in South Asia and Beyond', December 2016 Presented a paper at the Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud - CEIAS (Center for South Asian Studies) Paris on 'Mapping Shared Sacred Spaces in Uderolal', as part of the UderoLal Research Project (ULRP), for the Conference on 'How to Study Shared Sacred Spaces in South Asia and Beyond', December 2016 Presented a paper on: ‘From Sufi Learning Center to Popular Place – Living History and Cultural Place at the Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai in the Town of Bhitshah, Sindh (Pakistan)’, at ARCASIA Conference, Ayutthaya, Thailand, November 2015. Publications: Books: Karachi From the Prism of Urban Design, Co-authored with Dr. Noman Ahmed, Asiya Sadiq Polack and Suneela Ahmed, Published by Department of Architecture and Planning, NED UET, Karachi, 2016. Research Projects and Reports: Documentation and Analysis of the Secondary City of Larkana (Sindh) as part of the Sustainable Urbanization Project– Research Study of 8 secondary cities of Pakistan; A UNHabitat-NED Collaboration Project including Sialkot, Mansehra, Mingora, Turbat, Landikotal, Gilgit and Muzaffarabad as other secondary cities in Pakistan. This involved physical and socio economic survey of selected areas of city, analysis, formulation of key proposals based on identification of key issues. This was carried out between 2010-2012 Mapping of density of four low income housing areas in Karachi, Density Study – 04 Cases of Housing, 2008/09, Prepared for the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), co-researchers and authors including Asiya Sadiq Polack and Suneela Ahmed in collaboration with Architect and Planner Arif Hasan, published and available at http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/G02709.pdf Asia Link Programme (2006/07), NED University: as research assistant; A collaborative program between Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, the Netherlands; CEPT University (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India; University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Sri Lanka; and the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan for curriculum development in urban and city design. Research Papers: Masooma Shakir 5 ‘Economic functioning of Secondary cities of Pakistan and its integration with the th physical landuse – Case of Larkana and Mansehra’, presented at the 7 Seminar on Urban and Regional Planning, NED UET, 31 March 2012, published in the Conference proceedings. ‘Towards achieving a balance between real estate development potentials and issues of heritage conservation in the city center, with the backdrop of Karachi’, presented at the th 5 Seminar on Urban and Regional Planning, NED UET, May 2010. This was also published in the Seminar Proceedings Publication 2010. Gated Living in the context of Karachi, published in: “Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning”, Volume Nine, 2010, Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi Trends in Urban Housing and Development Practices in Karachi: An interface with the Informal Sector, presented at the AsiaLink-AsiaUrbs Conference, 07-09 June 2007, Center for Housing Planning and Building, Battaramulla, Colombo, Srilanka. published in: “Emerging South Asian Urban Design Practices and Paradigms”. This paper was a result of my work as a research assistant for Asia Link Programme (2006/07). This was a collaborative program between Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, the Netherlands; CEPT University (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India; University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Sri Lanka; and the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan for curriculum development in urban and city design. International Urban Design Competition Entry Participated in International Competition on Urban Regeneration of Aurificia Block in Porto, Portugal as the main coordinator. The entry was the only one from Asia. Taking on a multidisciplinary approach sought to revitalize a degenerated area through an economic activity addition of urban agriculture, supported by community and cultural activities along with creation of an authentic tourism. Participation in Cultural Events and Exhibitions Participated in art event ‘Pursukoon Karachi’, with the art project ‘Rang De’, that aimed to create and spread messages of peace through graffiti and mobile messages on rikshaws (local transport mode). Along with a handful of dedicated fourth year design students from NED, ticket booths for rikshaws were designed using bamboos and scaffolding as basic local materials and technology put together at very low cost, detailed with rikshaw art. Participated in IAP Design Competition ’21 cubic feet’, a storage box design of the stated volume, exhibited at the Indus Valley Art Gallery for two weeks. The design storage box was a multipurpose, semi outdoor studio space for any kind of creative work. It was called ‘Pandora Box’. A couple of old wooden window structures were revamped to become openable table and storage space for creative minds. Masooma Shakir 6 Masooma Shakir 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Synopsis……………………………………………………………………………………………...11 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………..16 INTRODUCTION Context: theoretical and empirical....................................................................................... 23 Premise ................................................................................................................................... 31 Aim and research questions ................................................................................................ 32 Research strategy ................................................................................................................. 32 Architectural Research ..................................................................................................... 33 Data collection methods................................................................................................. 34 Triangulation ..................................................................................................................... 36 The case study of the Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai .................................................. 37 Challenges and opportunities of the research study ........................................................ 40 Research outcomes .............................................................................................................. 41 1 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 43 1.2 The Interrelation between the tangible and the intangible components of a living heritage ................................................................................................................................... 45 1.3 The Context: The larger geographical region within the historical context ........ 48 1.3.1 Nodes in a wider network ..................................................................................... 48 1.4 The Content: Place, Settlement and Rituals ........................................................... 50 1.4.1 The Settlement and its spatial relation to place (morphology / primary element): Framing locality.............................................................................................. 50 1.4.2 The function of the place / the roles it has played through its history ............ 53 1.4.3 The Rituals: Acts of Group Commemoration and Place ................................... 55 Structure of the Case study Research Analysis .......................................................... 56 2 MACRO LEVEL: THE LARGER CONTEXT 2.1 Introduction: The role of the shrine in history ............................................................. 59 2.2 Civilizational Imaginings and contradictory patterns constructing identity of the Muslim nation and community – Precolonial, Colonial and Nation formation ............... 63 2.2.1 Pre Colonial (Before 1790) .................................................................................... 63 Mysticism and related cultural values – Syncretism......................................................... 63 Sufism and culture ............................................................................................................ 67 Political history ................................................................................................................. 70 Absence of landed private property ................................................................................. 71 Community formations (role of saints) ............................................................................. 72 Masooma Shakir 8 Networks ........................................................................................................................... 73 2.2.2 Colonial (1799 – 1947) ........................................................................................... 78 Western modernity: Classifications and systems ............................................................. 79 Objectifying and fixing identity of Muslim community ....................................................... 80 Categorizing fakirs as criminals; descendants of saints as landlords .............................. 81 Cultural tensions: Muslim nationalism versus modern nation .......................................... 83 The Institution of Waqf ..................................................................................................... 85 Sindhi nationalism and its role in the definition of Pakistan territory ................................ 90 2.2.3 Post independence (1947 - ) ................................................................................ 92 Continuing patterns of tension: ........................................................................................ 93 Embracing western modernity vs. defining Islamic state ................................................. 93 The Province of Sindh and its struggle after partition ...................................................... 95 Bureaucratization of traditional institutions: The formation of the government department of Auqaf ............................................................................................................................ 96 A conceptual articulation of the institution of waqf as one preserving of collective memory and supporting 'living heritage' sites within the context ................................................... 98 2.3 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................. 99 MARUI XXVII - ……………………………………………………………………………………...103 Selected verses from Risalo of Shah Abdul Latif, Translated in verse by Elsa Kazi 3 THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE SHRINE OF SHAH ABDUL LATIF BHITAI 3.1 Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (1689-1752): Introduction ............................................... 109 3.2 The Poetry: Intangible Heritage and a Cultural Representation ......................... 111 3.3 Rituals, Social Organization and Relationship to Place ...................................... 118 3.4 Social grouping at the Shrine and the Rituals ...................................................... 121 3.5 Traditional Social Group: Preservation of the Collective Memory ..................... 123 Fakirs .............................................................................................................................. 123 Rituals as a form of collective memory in space ....................................................... 125 The structure and rhythm of collective memory ............................................................. 127 3.5.1 Daily performance of Shah jo Risalo: Raagi Fakirs ......................................... 128 3.5.2 Naqqara / Dhamaal: Mungenhar Fakirs ................................................................ 134 3.5.3 Monthly Ritual of Sao Sumar: Zakri fakir and Gaddi Nashin ............................. 136 3.6 Annual Ritual of the Urs: Provincial Management Institution, the Auqaf and the Culture Departments ........................................................................................................... 141 3.6.1 The Town during Urs ......................................................................................... 143 3.6.2 The Shrine on Urs .............................................................................................. 146 3.7 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................... 153 Masooma Shakir 9 4 THE PLACE WITHIN THE TOWN CONTEXT: RELATIONSHIP OF SHRINE TO SETTLEMENT 4.1 Bhitshah (1742 - ): Introduction to town................................................................ 158 4.2 Chronological historical and political overview of the town............................... 160 4.3 The traditional organic town .................................................................................. 166 4.3.1 The Process of Community Building................................................................. 171 4.3.2 Traditional cultural nodes in town ..................................................................... 175 4.4 Post colonial, post independence city form ......................................................... 181 Urban planning exercises and changing relationships between indigenous neighbourhoods and shrine ........................................................................................ 186 4.5 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................... 189 5 CULTURAL PLACE AND LIVING HERITAGE OF THE SHRINE OF SHAH ABDUL LATIF BHITAI 5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 192 5.2 Evolution of place .................................................................................................... 196 5.2.1 The Shrine as a khanqah .................................................................................... 196 5.2.2 The Shrine as a Dargah / Place of Veneration .................................................. 201 The multifaceted open court of the shrine ...................................................................... 210 The relation between the shrine and the bazaar ............................................................ 214 5.2.3 The Shrine as a Living History and a Place of Commemoration .................... 217 The indigenous community / settlement of fakirs ........................................................... 220 5.2.4 The Shrine as a non-sacred, civic, public place ............................................... 232 5.3 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................... 237 CONCLUSION The Sufi Shrine as a Cultural Living Heritage .................................................................. 239 Contribution to Knowledge ................................................................................................ 243 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................... 245 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 247 APPENDICES Masooma Shakir 10

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.