"This book is based on two years of anthropological observation of practices and discussions surrounding Sufi pirs (teachers of Sufism) in Pakistan. The author uses both psychoanalytic theory and anthropology to theorize about the influence of the competing ideologies of modernity and Sufism. This study counters the postcolonial assumption that local values had been completely disrupted by modernity and technology. Rather, the author argues that Sufism was marginally affected but not ultimately determined by modernity. Instead of showing Sufi pirs as part of a dying tradition, this book shows them to be foci around whom political discourses about the place of Islam in Pakistan and individual consciousness come together."—Middle East Journal

“[A]n intriguing ethnography based on two years of fieldwork among Sufi teachers, religious mendicants, and middle-class Pakistani in the city of Lahore. Ewing draws creatively on the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan to understand Sufi religious meanings and practices.”—Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Anthropology Quarterly

“Arguing Sainthood is [an] intellectually highly original and significant contribution. . . . A unique blend of theory and narrative and written in a highly lucid style, this is a fascinating book that reveals not only the incoherent and enchanted world of traditional mysticism, but also the hegemonic and exploitative empire of modern rationality.”—S. Parvez Manzoor, Muslim World Book Review

“[T]he culmination of Katherine Ewing’s pioneering work among Sufis located in Lahore, Pakistan. . . . Arguing Sainthood is a splendid entry point into the ‘twilight zone’ of contradictory middle-class religion in Lahore.”—Arthur F. Buehler, The Journal of Religion

“Ewing has thought deeply about the nature of subjectivity, and her book raises some important questions for future research.”—Pnina Werbner, American Ethnologist

"This book is based on two years of anthropological observation of practices and discussions surrounding Sufi pirs (teachers of Sufism) in Pakistan. The author uses both psychoanalytic theory and anthropology to theorize about the influence of the competing ideologies of modernity and Sufism. This study counters the postcolonial assumption that local values had been completely disrupted by modernity and technology. Rather, the author argues that Sufism was marginally affected but not ultimately determined by modernity. Instead of showing Sufi pirs as part of a dying tradition, this book shows them to be foci around whom political discourses about the place of Islam in Pakistan and individual consciousness come together."—Middle East Journal

“[A]n intriguing ethnography based on two years of fieldwork among Sufi teachers, religious mendicants, and middle-class Pakistani in the city of Lahore. Ewing draws creatively on the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan to understand Sufi religious meanings and practices.”—Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Anthropology Quarterly

“Arguing Sainthood is [an] intellectually highly original and significant contribution. . . . A unique blend of theory and narrative and written in a highly lucid style, this is a fascinating book that reveals not only the incoherent and enchanted world of traditional mysticism, but also the hegemonic and exploitative empire of modern rationality.”—S. Parvez Manzoor, Muslim World Book Review

“[T]he culmination of Katherine Ewing’s pioneering work among Sufis located in Lahore, Pakistan. . . . Arguing Sainthood is a splendid entry point into the ‘twilight zone’ of contradictory middle-class religion in Lahore.”—Arthur F. Buehler, The Journal of Religion

“Ewing has thought deeply about the nature of subjectivity, and her book raises some important questions for future research.”—Pnina Werbner, American Ethnologist

“This is an important book, one that is significant for the discourses of Pakistani modernity and the dilemmas it creates, the internal differentiations in Pakistani society, and the historical forces that brought them about.”—Gananath Obeyesekere, Princeton University

“Arguing Sainthood can and should be used in courses on modernity, postcolonialism, the Middle East, South Asia, and in other courses—cultural studies, religion—where Lacanian ideas are not unfamiliar.”—Michael M. J. Fischer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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