‘<i>Live</i>has an atmosphere of its own’:<i>azadari</i>, ethical orientation, and tuned presence in Shi‘i media praxis

Abstract

Abstract: Among producers of Shi‘i Islamic media in Pakistan, the quality of being live as an atmosphere capable of mediation has gained efficacy along with changes in media for religious dispensation. Central to the importance of live recordings are the ways they are perceived to most effectively mediate the ethical, ritual, and transhistorical contours of azadari, a word that describes the ways in which the personages held in esteem by the Shi‘a are mourned and commemorated. What are these qualities of being live that see recordings attributed the qualities of a good, moral atmosphere? By building on ethnographic research into the relationship between Shi‘i practices of azadari and their technological mediation, this article aims to provide greater insights into what atmosphere can do for anthropology, with the suggestion that it acts as a way of recognizing different thresholds of intensity and change.