Seeing the future through a rear-view mirror: On the politics of revitalizing secular bio-icons in the Middle East

IF 1.3 3区社会学 Q1 AREA STUDIES

Mediterranean Politics Pub Date : 2022-01-20 DOI:10.1080/13629395.2022.2028495

Christine Crone, Frederik Carl Windfeld, A. Warrington

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates secular bio-icons’ political revitalization, illustrating their application as critical interventions into contemporary political struggles in the Middle East. To elucidate this phenomenon, we introduce the concept politics of revitalization to address how memory entrepreneurs can manage the past in ways that legitimize their involvement in particular visions of the future, thereby holding the potential to consolidate the position of political elites in power. Based on an analysis of three secular bio-icons: Jamila Bouhired, Leila Khaled and Hilarion Capucci, we argue that the mobilizing, resistive and aspirational potential of secular bio-icons can be utilized strategically by political actors to boost and legitimize existing (and widely contested) regimes or ideological beliefs by anchoring them in mediated renditions of historical narratives. We hold that secular bio-icons’ political application constitutes a distinct social technique applied by Iran, Syria and Hizbollah to (re)activate nostalgic collective memories, pointing towards particular futures in which they entrench their political status and undermine opposing actors.

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透过后视镜看未来:中东世俗生物符号复兴的政治

摘要本文探讨世俗生物符号的政治复兴，并举例说明它们在当代中东政治斗争中的关键干预作用。为了阐明这一现象，我们引入了复兴政治的概念，以解决记忆企业家如何以使他们参与未来特定愿景合法化的方式管理过去，从而巩固政治精英在权力中的地位。基于对三个世俗生物偶像的分析:Jamila Bouhired, Leila Khaled和Hilarion Capucci，我们认为世俗生物偶像的动员，抵抗和抱负潜力可以被政治行动者策略性地利用，通过将现有(广泛争议的)政权或意识形态信仰锚定在历史叙事的中介再现中来促进和合法化。我们认为，世俗生物符号的政治应用构成了伊朗、叙利亚和真主党(Hizbollah)用来(重新)激活怀旧集体记忆的一种独特的社会技术，指向特定的未来，在这种未来中，它们巩固了自己的政治地位，削弱了对立的行动者。

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来源期刊

Mediterranean Politics Multiple-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

5.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Mediterranean Politics is the only refereed academic journal to focus on the politics, international relations and political economy of the entire Mediterranean area - "Mediterranean" here being understood to refer to all those countries whose borders are defined partially or wholly by the Mediterranean Sea. This focus involves consideration not only of the region itself, but also the significance of developments there for other parts of the world. The journal analyses the central issues that concern Mediterranean countries and assesses both local and international responses to them. While its prime concern is with political developments, the focus of Mediterranean Politics extends to all the factors and dimensions affecting political life.