Iain R. Edgar

Iain Edgar (born 1948) is a social anthropologist at Durham University. He is a leading expert in the field of dreams and dreaming, and a specialist in altered states of consciousness and mental health. Starting his career in social work, Edgar received a PhD from the University of Keele, where he studied under Ronnie Frankenberg. His thesis Dreamwork, Anthropology and the Caring Professions: A Cultural Approach to Dreamwork discusses a wide range of psychodynamic possibilities and develops a method to work with dreams within a professional care environment.

Iain Ross Edgar
Iain R. Edgar
Born(1948-06-06)June 6, 1948
EducationBachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of York, MPhil in Anthropology from Durham University, PhD in Social Anthropology from Keele University
OccupationAnthropologist
EmployerDurham University
Known forImagework, Anthropology of Dreams, Dreams and Islam, Anthropology of Education

Imagework Methods

Iain Edgar is a pioneer in the area of imagework methods. In his 2004 book, A Guide to Imagework: Imagination-Based Research Methods (Routledge),[1] he identifies several techniques for producing data about identity, belief and society through the exploration of people's imaginative resources. Iain Edgar has sought to integrate techniques more commonly associated with group psychiatric therapy and counselling with the broader research questions of social anthropology and sociology.

Dreams and Islam

Since 2002, Edgar has researched the role and function of the dream in Islam. He focussed on Sufi dreaming, Istikhara. In 2011, he published The Dream In Islam: From Qur'anic Tradition to Jihadist Interpretation.[2] This book contributes to the understanding of the importance of dreams within both textual Islam and in every day Muslim life.

Edgar has extensively lectured on this subject and has given dozens of media interviews. Edgar has given talks and workshops at the Cheltenham Book festival and Science festivals and the Winchester Arts and Mind festival and the Hay-on-Wye "HowTheLightGetsIn" Philosophy festival.

Education Research

Iain Edgar has published on education in social anthropology in Europe as well as broader primary and secondary education in Pakistan. With Stephen M. Lyon, he edited a book on education in Pakistan which covered secular, religious, state and private educational settings (see Lyon and Edgar 2010).[3] He has co-edited two volumes on education in social anthropology. The first, with Dorle Dracklé and Thomas K. Schippers, concentrated on the history of education in social anthropology,[4] while the second, co-edited with Dorle Dracklé, addresses contemporary practices in teaching social anthropology in Europe.[5]

Iain R. Edgar's Publications

As author

Edgar, Iain 2011. The Dream in Islam: From Qur'anic Tradition to Jihadist Inspiration. Oxford: Berghahn Books.

Edgar, I.R. 2004. Guide to Imagework: Imagination-Based Research Methods. London: Routledge.

Iain R. Edgar 1995. Dreamwork, Anthropology and the Caring Professions: A Cultural Approach to Dreamwork. Aldershopt: Avebury.

As editor

Lyon, Stephen M. & Edgar, Iain R. 2010. Shaping a Nation: An Examination of Education in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.

Drackle, D. & Edgar, I.R. 2004. Learning Fields Vol.2 Current Educational Practices in European Social Anthropology. Oxford: Berghahn Books.

D. Drackle, I. Edgar & T. Schippers 2003. Learning Fields Vol. 1 Educational Histories of European Anthropology. Oxford: Berghahn Books. Iain R. Edgar & A. Russell 1998. Anthropology of Welfare. London: Routledge.

Contributions

Edgar, Iain R. 2009. A Comparison of Islamic and Western Psychological Dream Theories, in Bulkeley, K., Adams, K. & Davis, P., Dreaming in Christianity and Islam: Culture, Conflict, and Creativity (New Brunswick, USA.: Rutgers) 188–199

Iain Edgar & David Henig 2009. The Cosmopolitan and the Noumenal: A Case Study of Islamic Jihadist Night Dreams as Reported Sources of Spiritual and Political Inspiration, in Theodossopoulos, Dimitrios Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth, United in Discontent: Local Responses to Cosmopolitanism and Globalization. (Oxford: Berghahn Books) 64–82

I.R. Edgar 2004, Imagework in Ethnographic Research, in S. Pink, L. Kurti & A. Afonso, Working Images; research and representation in ethnography. (London: Routledge) 90–106

Edgar, I. R 2004, Imagework method and potential applications in health, social sciences and social care research: journeying with a question, in Rapport, F, New Qualitative Research Methodologies in Health and Social Care Research (London: Routledge) 123–138

I.R. Edgar 2003, Line-ups, in P.Rice & D.McCurdy Prentice Hall, Strategies for Teaching Anthropology Vol 3. 1–4.

Edgar, Iain R. 1996, The tooth butterfly: rendering a sensible account from the imaginative present, in A James, J Hockey & A Dawson London After Writing Culture (London: Routledge) 71–85.

Essays

Lyon, Stephen M. & Edgar, Iain R. 2010. Society, Culture and Politics: Examining Education in Pakistan, in Lyon, Stephen M. & Edgar, Iain R. eds., Shaping a Nation: An Examination of Education in Pakistan. (Karachi/Oxford University Press. 1–15)

Magazine articles

Iain Edgar 2008. The 'no Dream' in Contemporary Islamic/Jihadist Dreamwork: A Case Study of the Dreams of Mullah Omar. Dreamtime 25(1), 4–6,34–36

Iain R. Edgar 2008. The Inspirational Night Dream in the Motivation and Justification of Jihad. Left Curve 32, 27–34 2006. Encountering the 'true dream' in Islam: A journey to Turkey and Pakistan. British Academy Review (9), 7–9.

Papers

Edgar, Iain R. & Henig, David. 2010. Istikhara: The Guidance and practice of Islamic dream incubation through ethnographic comparison. History and Anthropology 21(3): 251–262.

Iain Edgar 2008. Overtures of Paradise: Night Dreams and Islamic Jihadist Militancy. Curare: Journal of Medical Anthropology 31(1): 87–97.

Edgar, Iain R. 2007. The Inspirational Night Dream in the Motivation and Justification of Jihad. Nova Religio 11(2): 59–76.

Edgar, Iain R. 2006. The ‘true dream’ in contemporary Islamic/Jihadist dreamwork: a case study of the dreams of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Contemporary South Asia 15(3): 263–272

Iain Edgar 2004. A War of Dreams? Militant Muslim Dreaming in the Context of Traditional and Contemporary Islamic Dream Theory and Practice. Dreaming 14(1): 21–29

Edgar, Iain R. 2003. Encountering the dream: intersecting Anthropological and Psychoanalytical Approaches. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 3(2): 95–101.

Edgar, Iain R. 2002. Invisible Elites: Authority and the Dream. Dreaming 12(1): 79–92.

Edgar, Iain R. 2000. Cultural dreaming or dreaming cultures? The anthropologist and the dream. KEA: Zeitscrift fur Kulturwissenschaften 13: 1–20.

Edgar, Iain R. 1999. Dream Fact and Real Fiction: The Realisation of the Imagined Self. Anthropology of Consciousness 10(1): 28–42.

Edgar, Iain R. 1999. The Imagework Method in Social Science and Health Research. Qualitative Health Research 9(2): 198–211.

References
  1. Edgar, I.R. 2004. Guide to Imagework: Imagination-Based Research Methods. London: Routledge. – http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415235372/
  2. Edgar, Iain 2011. The Dream in Islam: From Qur'anic Tradition. Oxford: Berghahn Books. – http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=EdgarDream Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Lyon, Stephen M. & Edgar, Iain R. (eds) 2010. Shaping a Nation: An Examination of Education in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press. – http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195477092.do?keyword=shaping+a+nation&sortby=bestMatches
  4. D. Drackle, I. Edgar & T. Schippers (eds). 2003. Learning Fields Vol. 1 Educational Histories of European Anthropology. Oxford: Berghahn Books. Iain R. Edgar & A. Russell 1998. Anthropology of Welfare. London: Routledge. – http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=DrackleEducational
  5. Drackle, D. & Edgar, I.R. 2004. Learning Fields Vol.2 Current Educational Practices in European Social Anthropology. Oxford: Berghahn Books. – http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=DrackleCurrent
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