From military hero to martyr: crafting singularity and the formation of Muslim collective subjectivity in an Iranian statist ritual

The staging of the funeral procession of Major General Qasem Soleimani (d. 3 January 2020) strengthened the Iranian state’s legitimation amidst the crisis related to intensified US sanctions. Images of his funeral parade across the country with its dense mourning crowd were circulated widely and commented on in both Iran’s official media and the international media. In response to these images, media commentaries engaged obsessively and exclusively with the biographical reviews that emphasised his heroic individuality and charismatic figure. This article engages critically with these reactions, while asking instead what his funeral tells us about the unfolding of the statist cult in Iran. I analyse two ethnographic scenes, one showing the entanglement of the official discourse of martyrdom with the statist culture, and the other, how the atmosphere of grief and veneration during the martyrs’ funeral processions unsettle the dichotomies between compliance and resistance, orchestrated and emergent affects. These observations open a new vista on the mutual processes of singularity and the collective subjectivation that goes beyond one-sided causal explanations of heroic individuality on the one hand and blatantly dramatised expressions of the state’s religious policies on the other.

Między Kommune 1 a „niedzielną pieczenią”. Krautrock w świetle koncepcji komunizmu kwasowego

The article examines selected phenomena of the so-called krautrock, i.e. West German rock music of the late 1960s and the 1970s. The analysis is based on Mark Fisher's concept of acid communism and the related issue of collective subjectivity. The author distinguishes two opposing tendencies in the music discussed, the first one being the fascination with the collective that goes back to the student protests of 1967–1968, and the second one being the (re)appreciation of individual perspective, which manifested itself e.g. in an increased interest in spirituality and a certain kind of social criticism performed from a distanced position. Focusing on the relationship between the individual and the group, the article analyzes a number of songs and albums that have received little or no attention from researchers up to now.

Affect and the Response to Terror: Commemoration and Communities of Sense

This article examines affective responses to terror and the emergence of communities of sense in the commemoration of such attacks. We challenge the predominant framing of responses to terror which emphasize security and identity. We focus on the singular response by the city of Manchester in the aftermath of the 2017 Arena bombing, drawing on fieldwork conducted at the 1-year anniversary commemorative events. Our discussion focuses on the ways improvised, transient communities crystallized around the cultural significance of music during these events. The article explores these communities of sense through two case studies: those drawn together around the figure of Ariane Grande; and those assembled through a mass sing-along. In contrast to national or municipal responses to terror which orchestrate affect to establish narratives about security, borders and identity, we argue for the importance of paying attention to the improvised, affective ways in which people respond to terror. These plural, affective responses suggest another form of collective subjectivity. They also demonstrate the transient, plural, and everyday ways in which politics is practiced, assembled, and negotiated by different publics in response to terror.

Generating Solidarity in Diversity: The Case of Housing Struggles in Rome

The article explores the role of solidarity in housing movement organizations in Rome (Italy). Most notably, it enquires the modalities through which activists try to prevent the housing eviction of precarious urban dwellers, the majority of whom are immigrants. The argument is twofold. First, these practices foster solidarity between migrant and non-migrant locals, contributing to the formation of a new collective subjectivity that brings together individualized local and immigrant inhabitants sharing a need for a roof. Second, this process has an impact on the cityscape as it contributes to mapping alternative models of city construction. This article is based on an extensive participant observation (2016) in the network Movements for the Right to Inhabit and on in-depth interviews with activists and experts.

Así de líquida: Aralia López González, escriba, maestra, amiga

The way in which Aralia López relates to women and men involved a constant weaving of interpretations and proposing utopias in order to understand that a new personal and collective subjectivity is created by narrative and poetry. Aralia, a poet and an indispensable voice of Latin American feminist literary criticism, cultivated the friendship between women and the expression of feminine difference. Her work and way of life questioned the masculine patriarchal hegemony and casted serious doubts on traditional ideas and practices harmful to freedom.

CHORUS: Collective subjectivity in quotational writing practices

‘CHORUS: Collective subjectivity in quotational writing practices’ is a ‘poet’s essay’ that examines new ways to consider subjectivity and personal affect through the use of found language. Through several examples in contemporary poetry, the essay asserts that a collective voice or ‘chorus’ or an avatar-like found voice as a protagonist can articulate the emotional zeitgeist of a cultural moment. The essay argues that this quotational response to personal and public trauma is no less legitimate than the singular articulation of a more conventional lyric poem. Further, the essay emphasizes that the boundaries between original material and found material have become increasingly blurred. As a poet’s essay, and one that addresses quotational writing, ‘CHORUS’ intentionally omits the scholarly use of proper citation.