With Abdulmuhsin Jimie

Ages 18+

In Arabic
 

How does the world around us become familiar? What makes us pass by the same streets and faces every day without truly seeing them? Perhaps what we consider ‘natural’ is merely a way of looking that has become habitual.

This workshop is not an attempt to define anthropology, nor does it seek to provide a comprehensive overview of its history or theories. Instead, it is an invitation to experiment with a different way of seeing—one where questions matter more than answers, and the ordinary becomes worthy of wonder once again.

Difference has the unique power to unsettle what we have long taken for granted. The spaces we inhabit daily may suddenly reveal what has always slipped past our attention. Ultimately, the questions we ask about others gradually, inevitably, become questions about ourselves.

Perhaps anthropology doesn’t offer a new way to explain  the world. Perhaps its true intent is teaching us how to listen to it, observe it and move through it—with a little less certainty and a lot more curiosity.

Over the course of three days, we will engage with the world and each other through discussions and practical exercises, as well as visual and textual materials and brief field observations. This is a journey that begins with an encounter with others, but whose final destination is intentionally left open.

This session is free, and all materials are provided.

Sharjah Art Foundation is committed to making its programmes inclusive and accessible. You can arrange for any support needed through the registration form.

For more information, email learning@sharjahart.org, or call (06) 5688 800.

About Abdulmuhsin Jimie:
A socio-cultural anthropologist based in Doha, where he serves as the Librarian at MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Abdulmuhsin Jimie examines the moral formations of everyday religious life, focusing on how communities inhabit transcendence as an ordinary condition of existence. A recipient of the Almanwar Prize for Digital Cultural Research (Saudi Arabia, 2023), he holds a master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Jimie previously worked as a research assistant at the Ibn Khaldun Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, Doha, and at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, contributing to projects on contemporary Islamic thought and postcolonial critique. His forthcoming publications include an Arabic translation of Mustafa Briggs’ Beyond Bilal: Black History in Islam (2022).