Visualizing the Painful Past
Reel Reconciliation Institutions
In: Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationSIT
Search for other papers by Taieb Belghazi in
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Abstract
Conventional social science studies of state violence privilege ‘instrumental’ approaches in which the main focus is on rational and calculated acts of state violence that operate as a means to achieve specific ends. In this paper, we use six Moroccan feature films on the subject of violence as an introduction to ‘expressive’ dimensions of state violence, the set of meanings it expresses and the affects it triggers. Fictive as they are, the films highlight key issues pertaining to the topic, issues that have remained insufficiently addressed by social scientists. These issues include the cultural meanings of retributive justice for state perpetrators, political betrayal, political innocence, the multiple aspects of activism and resistance and societal reconciliation. The films not only trigger pertinent intellectual dilemmas, they also offer a ‘fictional framing’ of political reconciliation in which the family operates as the ‘weapon of the weak’ and the locus for restoring a lost past order are shattered by state violence.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 530 | 78 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 36 | 0 | 0 |
Visualizing the Painful Past
Reel Reconciliation Institutions
In: Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationSIT
Search for other papers by Taieb Belghazi in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Abelhay Moudden in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Conventional social science studies of state violence privilege ‘instrumental’ approaches in which the main focus is on rational and calculated acts of state violence that operate as a means to achieve specific ends. In this paper, we use six Moroccan feature films on the subject of violence as an introduction to ‘expressive’ dimensions of state violence, the set of meanings it expresses and the affects it triggers. Fictive as they are, the films highlight key issues pertaining to the topic, issues that have remained insufficiently addressed by social scientists. These issues include the cultural meanings of retributive justice for state perpetrators, political betrayal, political innocence, the multiple aspects of activism and resistance and societal reconciliation. The films not only trigger pertinent intellectual dilemmas, they also offer a ‘fictional framing’ of political reconciliation in which the family operates as the ‘weapon of the weak’ and the locus for restoring a lost past order are shattered by state violence.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 530 | 78 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 36 | 0 | 0 |
