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Romancing the Nation
Politics of Love and Blood in Syrian Popular Culture
in Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationSearch for other papers by Rahaf Aldoughli in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Spanning the era of the two Assads (father and son) up to 2007 (the referendum year confirming Bashar al-Assad’s continuation as president) and songs produced during the war, this study will explore the role of ‘love’ (hub) and its relation to ‘blood’ (dam) in the continuity and persistence of heroism in the national narrative. As a form of politics, love and blood have served the Baathist state in obtaining and using power and domination. This article investigates the various ways love as a political tool has been instrumentalized to legitimize the regime and construct national ties and unity. As such, this study interrogates the connection between the sacralization of the nation and the construction of love as a political and cultural tool to subject loyalty and subordination in political culture. Understanding discursive appropriations of love in this way offers a fresh perspective into the meaning—and most importantly, the politics—of love in modern Syria and its relation to Baathism, the Syrian uprising, and popular culture. In this context, the use of the term ‘love’ (hub) by the opposition has become a confirmatory tool of the regime’s illegitimacy. While ‘love’ as a political tool has been instrumentalized by the Syrian Baath regime to consolidate authority, the citizenry now faces many challenges. One of these is not only reversing this imposed ‘love’ with hate or anger towards the regime, but more importantly, rationalizing nationhood and national membership by focusing on establishing civic engagement and representation.
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Aldoughli, Rahaf (2016). Revisiting Ideological Borrowings in Syrian Nationalist Narratives: Sati ‘al-Husri, Michel ‘Aflaq and Zaki al-Arsuzi. Syria Studies, 8(1): 7–39.
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Aldoughli, Rahaf (2019). The Symbolic Construction of National Identity and Belonging in Syrian Nationalist Songs (from 1970 to 2007). Contemporary Levant, 4(2): 141–154.
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| Insgesamt | Letzte 365 Tage | In den letzten 30 Tagen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen | 938 | 196 | 10 |
| Gesamttextansichten | 140 | 11 | 0 |
| PDF-Downloads | 282 | 22 | 0 |
Romancing the Nation
Politics of Love and Blood in Syrian Popular Culture
in Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationSearch for other papers by Rahaf Aldoughli in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Spanning the era of the two Assads (father and son) up to 2007 (the referendum year confirming Bashar al-Assad’s continuation as president) and songs produced during the war, this study will explore the role of ‘love’ (hub) and its relation to ‘blood’ (dam) in the continuity and persistence of heroism in the national narrative. As a form of politics, love and blood have served the Baathist state in obtaining and using power and domination. This article investigates the various ways love as a political tool has been instrumentalized to legitimize the regime and construct national ties and unity. As such, this study interrogates the connection between the sacralization of the nation and the construction of love as a political and cultural tool to subject loyalty and subordination in political culture. Understanding discursive appropriations of love in this way offers a fresh perspective into the meaning—and most importantly, the politics—of love in modern Syria and its relation to Baathism, the Syrian uprising, and popular culture. In this context, the use of the term ‘love’ (hub) by the opposition has become a confirmatory tool of the regime’s illegitimacy. While ‘love’ as a political tool has been instrumentalized by the Syrian Baath regime to consolidate authority, the citizenry now faces many challenges. One of these is not only reversing this imposed ‘love’ with hate or anger towards the regime, but more importantly, rationalizing nationhood and national membership by focusing on establishing civic engagement and representation.
| Insgesamt | Letzte 365 Tage | In den letzten 30 Tagen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen | 938 | 196 | 10 |
| Gesamttextansichten | 140 | 11 | 0 |
| PDF-Downloads | 282 | 22 | 0 |
