The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia
The Middle East is in chaos. Having been described as monstrous, the Islamic State (ISIL) has been defeated only to come back as a chronic guerrilla style insurgency and the shadow of further conflicts that are still looming in the region. The following article takes up this situation through the co...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://seer.ufrgs.br/presenca/article/view/85311 |
| _version_ | 1818921984850919424 |
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| author | Iman Ganji |
| author_facet | Iman Ganji |
| author_sort | Iman Ganji |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Middle East is in chaos. Having been described as monstrous, the Islamic State (ISIL) has been defeated only to come back as a chronic guerrilla style insurgency and the shadow of further conflicts that are still looming in the region. The following article takes up this situation through the concept of the biopolitical monster as the common body of resistance and struggle, exploring the liberatory aspects of this concept in terms of organization and political autonomy, and argues that ISIL has more in common with the State-form than with the monstrous. Discussing the colonial and neo-colonial aspects of the situation, the case of Kurdish Northern Syria will be presented in contrast to the ISIL. It continues to argue for a social monstrous flesh as the performative body of contemporary protest movements, tracing back the rhizomatic etymologies of monster to Aristotle and early Islamic philosophers, drawing inspirations mainly from the tradition of immanent thought and its contemporary thinkers such as Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, and Negri. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T01:46:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca5fad17807745428db16b86ac8a05e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2237-2660 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T01:46:20Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca5fad17807745428db16b86ac8a05e32022-12-21T19:57:46ZengUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulRevista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença2237-26602019-04-019212239637The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern MesopotamiaIman Ganji0Free University of BerlinThe Middle East is in chaos. Having been described as monstrous, the Islamic State (ISIL) has been defeated only to come back as a chronic guerrilla style insurgency and the shadow of further conflicts that are still looming in the region. The following article takes up this situation through the concept of the biopolitical monster as the common body of resistance and struggle, exploring the liberatory aspects of this concept in terms of organization and political autonomy, and argues that ISIL has more in common with the State-form than with the monstrous. Discussing the colonial and neo-colonial aspects of the situation, the case of Kurdish Northern Syria will be presented in contrast to the ISIL. It continues to argue for a social monstrous flesh as the performative body of contemporary protest movements, tracing back the rhizomatic etymologies of monster to Aristotle and early Islamic philosophers, drawing inspirations mainly from the tradition of immanent thought and its contemporary thinkers such as Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, and Negri.https://seer.ufrgs.br/presenca/article/view/85311BiopoliticsMonsterPolitical AutonomyIslamic StateColonialism |
| spellingShingle | Iman Ganji The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença Biopolitics Monster Political Autonomy Islamic State Colonialism |
| title | The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia |
| title_full | The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia |
| title_fullStr | The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia |
| title_short | The Monstrous Flesh: collective bodies and the State-Form in Modern Mesopotamia |
| title_sort | monstrous flesh collective bodies and the state form in modern mesopotamia |
| topic | Biopolitics Monster Political Autonomy Islamic State Colonialism |
| url | https://seer.ufrgs.br/presenca/article/view/85311 |
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