Werbner, Pnina 1944-

PERSONAL:

Born December 3, 1944.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Keele University, School of Social Relations, Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, England. E-mail—p.werbner@keele.ac.uk; p.werbner@appsoc.keele.ac.uk.

CAREER:

Academic and social anthropologist. Keele University, Keele, England, professor.

WRITINGS:

The Migration Process: Capital, Gifts, and Offerings among British Pakistanis, Berg (New York, NY), 1990.

(Editor, with Hastings Donnan) Economy and Culture in Pakistan: Migrants and Cities in a Muslim Society, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with Muhammad Anwar) Black and Ethnic Leaderships in Britain: The Cultural Dimensions of Political Action, Routledge (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with Tariq Modood) Debating Cultural Hybridity: Multi-cultural Identities and the Politics of Anti-racism, Zed Books (Atlantic Highlands, NJ), 1997.

(Editor, with Tariq Modood) The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe: Racism, Identity, and Community, Zed Books (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor, with Helene Basu) Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality, and Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults, Routledge (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor, with Nira Yuval-Davis) Women, Citizenship, and Difference, Zed (New York, NY), 1999.

Imagined Diasporas among Manchester Muslims: The Public Performance of Pakistani Transnational Identity Politics, James Currey (Oxford, England), 2002.

Pilgrims of Love: The Anthropology of a Global Sufi Cult, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 2003.

(Editor) Anthropology and the New Cosmopolitanism: Rooted, Feminist and Vernacular Perspectives, Berg (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Pnina Werbner is an academic and social anthropologist. Born on December 3, 1944, she works as a professor at Keele University in England. Her research interests include migrant studies, gender issues, Sufi cults, and Pakistani British culture.

Werbner published her first book, The Migration Process: Capital, Gifts, and Offerings among British Pakistanis, in 1990. The study observes the Pakistani immigrant life and culture in the United Kingdom.

Roger Ballard, reviewing the book in MAN, observed that "despite the richness of the ethnographic data, and the ambitiousness of the underlying analytical project, this reviewer, at least, still found himself less than satisfied when he finally reached the concluding chapter—not so much because of what the volume contains, but what it does not." Regardless, Ballard concluded that "this book represents a major advance, both as a source of finely detailed ethnography, and as a clear marker of the fact that Britain's urban, non-European migrant communities can provide a rewarding arena in which to conduct analytically sophisticated anthropological research."

In 1991 Werbner edited Economy and Culture in Pakistan: Migrants and Cities in a Muslim Society with Hastings Donnan. The eleven articles here discuss a range of social issues, rites, and cultural concepts unique to Pakistan.

Arthur W. Helweg, writing in the International Migration Review, remarked that the compilation of "articles in this collection are well written and scholarly." Helweg had criticism for the book, however, pointing out that "one major flaw is that the editors and contributors see Pakistan as a cultural unit when in fact it is a colonial construct and has no more cultural unity than the Soviet Union before its demise." Helweg concluded that the book was "well worth reading."

Werbner edited Debating Cultural Hybridity: Multicultural Identities and the Politics of Anti-racism, in 1997 with Tariq Modood. The collection of essays shows how the concept of hybrid cultures, which was once on the margins, plays a more mainstream role in global societies than it used to.

Alexandra Jaffe, reviewing the book in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, commented that "the volume's prescriptions for theory formation and political action call for a ‘processual’ theory of hybridity which deconstructs ideas about homogeneity and boundedness" as well as recognizing and studying "the legitimate social interests people have in boundary-marking." Jaffe stated: "I strongly recommend this volume for insights that bridge the academic and the political in our efforts to understand and act within the politics of difference." Fredrik Hertzberg and Mats Deland, jointly reviewing the book in Race and Class, recorded that "the debate around the Ekholm-Friedman affair is currently used by Jonathan Friedman in a university course on ‘political correctness’. The statements made in the course of this affair have deeply disturbed both anti-racist and academic opinion throughout Sweden. The Friedman couple's exact views on immigration and the treatment of asylum-seekers are still far from clear, but the path these two scholars have followed gives some perspective on the difficulties implied in a theoretical project to define an ethnicity that is politically innocuous."

Werbner also edited The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe: Racism, Identity, and Community with Modood that same year. The book mixes European and British scholarship in the field of multicultural policies around those countries and their compatibilities. Adrian Favell, writing in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, commented that this "smart new collection will hopefully serve to introduce current European-wide issues to students in British cultural studies, a field which, since its heyday in the 1980s, has been notable for its insular preoccupation with distinctly British debates and political concerns. This is important because theoretical discussions about multiculturalism and anti-racism in the British context … do not translate so easily into the dominant concerns concerning immigration and integration across Europe as a whole." Jon Mitchell, reviewing the book in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, mentioned that the fact that multicultural policies are not viewed the same way globally "is appropriate to a book whose central theme is diversity within and between different versions of multiculturalism. The variety of concrete examples serve to demonstrate the extent to which the politics of multiculturalism are always situated socially, politically, historically, making simplistic accounts of ‘culture’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘community’, and ‘identity’ unable to explain its complexities." Mitchell concluded by saying that "the book should be the starting-point for subsequent work on the (even newer) Europe and, with its partner, central to any courses that deal with these issues."

With Helene Basu, Werbner edited Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality, and Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults in 1998. The book examines South Asian Sufism, with the intent of showing that it is not redundant in modern society and to highlight how it fits into a larger cosmological and social framework.

E. Simpson, writing in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, observed that "the volume unfortunately lacks a comprehensive review of why Sufism should be thought of as bowing out to modernity, other than some familiar references to ‘magic’ and ‘religion’, which means that this theme remains only partially explored throughout," adding that the term Sufi is also problematic. Simpson concluded that, "taken as a whole, the book offers a wealth of fascinating material for anyone interested in Islam in South Asia and in the cults of saints in particular."

Werbner published Pilgrims of Love: The Anthropology of a Global Sufi Cult in 2008. The book looks into the cult surrounding the Sufi saint Zindapir Sahib and key concepts of Sufism related to migrant Pakistanis in the United Kingdom.

Katherine Pratt Ewing, writing in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, commented that, "ultimately, this book is a valuable record of a sufi order that might not otherwise retain a detailed record of its founding saint and his immediate followers. But it is a record that, as Werbner herself notes, may well offend the members of the order, from the very moment they read the word ‘cult’ in the book's title." Jonathan G. Andelson, writing in Utopian Studies, noted that "Werbner displays impressive skill in combining disparate modes of analysis. At the same time that she takes in the transnational sweep of Zindapir's order, she offers portraits of several other key members and their views, often in their own words (the longest direct quote is eight pages long). Without going beyond the evidence, she presents adroit interpretations of the personalities of these individuals. This is a particularly valuable part of the study, as it reveals individuals' varied reasons and goals for affiliating with Zindapir and the order." Andelson also highlighted the fact that the book is "richly detailed."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Anthropologist, December 1, 1991, Kathleen Hall, review of The Migration Process: Capital, Gifts, and Offerings among British Pakistanis, p. 1014.

American Ethnologist, May 1, 1993, Mehnaz Akber, review of The Migration Process, p. 416; November 1, 1994, Susan Brin Hyatt, review of Black and Ethnic Leaderships in Britain: The Cultural Dimensions of Political Action, p. 1106.

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, January 1, 1993, review of The Migration Process, p. 178.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, May 1, 1998, J. Bendix, review of The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe: Racism, Identity, and Community, p. 1603; March 1, 2003, A. Rassam, review of Imagined Diasporas among Manchester Muslims: The Public Performance of Pakistani Transnational Identity Politics, p. 1250.

Contemporary Sociology, September 1, 1993, Shelley Feldman, review of Economy and Culture in Pakistan: Migrants and Cities in a Muslim Society, p. 690; January 1, 2000, France Winddance Twine, review of Debating Cultural Hybridity: Multi-cultural Identities and the Politics of Anti-racism, p. 258.

Discourse & Society, January 1, 1999, Joel Feliu, review of The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe, p. 140.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, April 1, 1991, Iris Kalka, review of The Migration Process, p. 249; July 1, 1992, John Solomos, review of Black and Ethnic Leaderships in Britain, p. 475.

International Affairs, July 1, 1992, F.R.C. Bagley, review of Economy and Culture in Pakistan, p. 564; April 1, 2000, Chris Gamble, review of Women, Citizenship, and Difference, p. 356.

International Migration Review, spring, 1993, Arthur W. Helweg, review of Economy and Culture in Pakistan, p. 215.

Journal of Asian Studies, November 1, 2004, Robert Rozehnal, review of Pilgrims of Love: The Anthropology of a Global Sufi Cult, p. 1187.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, April 1, 1998, Adrian Favell, review of The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe, p. 392.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, March 1, 1999, Alexandra Jaffe, review of Debating Cultural Hybridity, p. 155; September 1, 2000, Jon Mitchell, review of The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe, p. 552; March 1, 2002, E. Simpson, review of Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality, and Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults, p. 174; September 1, 2005, Katherine Pratt Ewing, review of Pilgrims of Love, p. 626.

MAN, September 1, 1992, Stephen Vertovec, review of Black and Ethnic Leaderships in Britain, p. 689; September, 1992, Stephen Vertovec, review of Black and Ethnic Leaderships in Britain, p. 689; December 1, 1992, Roger Ballard, review of The Migration Process, p. 924.

Middle East Journal, winter, 1992, Marvin G. Weinbaum, review of Economy and Culture in Pakistan, p. 118; fall, 2000, Marilyn Booth, review of Women, Citizenship, and Difference, p. 643.

Race and Class, April 1, 1999, Fredrik Hertzberg and Mats Deland, review of Debating Cultural Hybridity, p. 99.

Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 1997, review of Debating Cultural Hybridity, p. 89; November 1, 2002, review of Imagined Diasporas among Manchester Muslims, p. 30.

Social Anthropology, February 1, 2001, Antoine Pecoud, review of The Politics of Multiculturalism in the New Europe, p. 109; June 1, 2005, Catherine Quiminal, review of Pilgrims of Love, p. 244.

Sociology, February 1, 1992, Zig Layton-Henry, review of Black and Ethnic Leaderships in Britain, p. 175.

Theory, Culture & Society, December 1, 2005, Andrew Smith, review of Imagined Diasporas among Manchester Muslims, p. 149.

Utopian Studies, January 1, 2006, Jonathan G. Andelson, review of Pilgrims of Love, p. 264.

ONLINE

Keele University, Sociology Department Web site,http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/so/sociology/ (July 15, 2008), author profile.

University of Kent Web site,http://www.kent.ac.uk/ (July 15, 2008), author profile.