Dr Marzia Balzani

Job Title: Reader Qualifications: BA MSt Dphil Email Address: M.Balzani@roehampton.ac.uk

MARZIA BALZANI's research has, to date, focussed primarily on South Asia, particularly north west India. She has carried out intensive fieldwork among the social and political elites of Rajasthan and has published on ritual and kingship. Other publications include work on pregnancy rituals, the analysis and anthropological interpretation of archival resources, transnational South Asian marriage and pilgrimage as well as review articles on anthropological materials for students of cultural studies.

More recent research interests include landscape as well as the performative aspects of political ritual. She is currently working on diasporic Islam in the UK and Pakistan.

Teaching

Anthropology of Religion, Kinship & Gender, Studying Anthropology, Introduction to Theory in Anthropology, Ethnography, Reading Anthropology, Social Anthropology dissertation supervisor and convenor, MPhil & Phd supervisor.

Areas of Specific Interest

Hinduism, Islam, Gender, Islam in diaspora, Political Ritual.

Research

Dr. Balzani's doctoral research topic was on "Changing Traditions and Rituals of Legitimation: studies in kingship from Jodhpur, Rajasthan". Research interests include: kingship and ritual in Rajasthan (north west India), landscape, performance, Islam in diaspora. She co-edits a journal of intercultural and literary studies, Talus.

Current research projects include: Diasporic Islam, gender and Islam, the built environment.

Co-published Books with Talus Small Press Editions

As part of Talus Small Press Editions I have co-published: Eric Mottram (1989) Peace Projects and Brief Novels, C. Bush (1989) Shifts in Undreamt Time, J. Kay (1992) Maghreb: New Writing from North Africa C. Bush (1997) Out of Dissent, C.Bush (1997) Worlds of New Measure. Griffiths, B. Ushabites 2001

Publications

M. Balzani (2009) Me an Expert? Anthropology, the law and asylum-seekers, What Anthropologists Do, 23-25.

Balzani M. & Bush, C. (2009) Is he a Bedouin? Post-war American and French responses to North Africa in the work of Paul Bowles and Albert Camus, Holding the Line: Selected essays in American Literature and Culture, C. Bush, 119-139.

M. Balzani (2009) Masculinities and violence against women in South Asian communities, Gender-based Violence in South Asian Communities: issues for policy and practice, 80-101.

Balzani, M. (2007) Spectacle and Power in the Organisation of Kingly Ritual: The case of Jodhpur Rajastan, The Power of performance, Delhi, Manohar, Eds. H Bruckner and P Zarrilli.

M.Balzani (2006) Transnational marriage among Ahmadi Muslims, Global Networks, 147-157.

Balzani, M. (2004) Pregnancy rituals among the Rajput Elite in contemporary Rajasthan: anthropology & the world of women, Playing for Real: Hindu Role Models, Religion, and Gender. Thomas, L., Suthren Hirst, J (eds), Delhi: OUP, pp141-160.

Balzani, M. (2003) Modern Indian Kingship: Changing Traditions and Rituals of Legitimation in Jodhpur, James Currey: Oxford, School of American Research Press: Santa Fe & Delhi: OUP, 204.

Balzani, M. (2003) Review of 'Hindu Women and Marriage Law: From Sacrament to Contract', Women's Studies International Forum, pp280-281.

Balzani, M. (2001) Pilgrimage and Politics in the Desert of Rajasthan, Contested Landscapes: Movement, Exile & Place, Oxford: Berg, Eds. B Bender & M Winer, pp211-224.

Balzani, M. (1999) Pilgrimage, Tourism and Politics in the Desert of Rajasthan, http://www.wac.nct.ac.za/wac3311.osp.

Balzani, M. (1998) Limits of Self Regard, Mottram, E, Balzani et al Gen.ed, Talus, Editions.

Balzani, M. (1998) Nomad Sense, Griffiths, B, Balzani et al Gen.eds, Talus, Editions .

Balzani, M. (1996) Franz Boas and the Foundation of American Anthropology: a guide for American Cultural Studies, Democratic Vistas, 2, pp80-104.

Balzani, M. and V. Joshi (1994) The Death of a Concubine’s Daughter: palace manuscripts as a source for the study of the Rajput elite, South Asia Research, 14:2.

Balzani, M. and C.W. Bush (1993) Review of 'Balzani, M. and C.W. Bush, Hopis and Hippies: prophecy in motion', Democratic Vistas, 1:2, pp78-107.

Balzani, M. and. Bush, C.W. (1992) Is he a Bedouin? Post-War American and French Responses to North Africa in the Work of Paul Bowles and Albert Camus, Dale Carter (ed.) The End of the Ike Age, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, pp104-123.