Theorizing Political Martyrdom: Politics, Religion, Death, and Memory

ABSTRACT From its emergence in early Christianity to its invocation in twenty-first century debates, martyrdom has always highlighted the complex relationship between politics, religion, death, and memory. A specifically political notion of martyrdom beyond the world's faith traditions would facilitate the concept’s more capacious application and analysis. Political martyrdom, I argue, consists of several components: (1) a death, occurring in what we might call “unnatural” circumstances, connected in some way to an individual’s identity(ies) or political commitments; (2) consecration of that death by a community or sub-community; and (3) transmission of accounts of that death across time, through processes of commemoration. This essay illuminates the ways by which political communities enshrine certain deaths in their collective memory, where they subsequently contribute to communal solidarity, identity formation, and political mobilization. I conclude by reflecting on how political martyrdom offers new insights into the intersection of politics, religion, death, and memory.