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6 - The Power of the Word

The Politicization of Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2022

Yafa Shanneik
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Summary

Chapter 6 focuses on the production of art in the form of poetry and sermons but also material and visual culture expressed through banners, posters, and graffiti as a form of resistance and reordering of the political system. In the context of Twelver Shi‘a Islam, writing elegies and performing them in mourning rituals has been a central element in lamenting the death of Imam Husayn. The lachrymal expressions and descriptions that characterize this lamentation poetry have the religious and ritualistic function of metaphorically identifying the participants with Imam Husayn and uniting believers in the fight for his cause. This chapter focuses mainly on lamentation poetry written by men but performed by women during women-only majalis in Kuwait and London. It discusses how poetry, as an artistic production, is politicized locally but its impact is transnationally transmitted. The chapter also examines women’s use of forms of resistance art to articulate their own definition of power and authority within both private and public spaces in Bahrain.

Type
Chapter
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The Art of Resistance in Islam
The Performance of Politics among Shi'i Women in the Middle East and Beyond
, pp. 176 - 207
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • The Power of the Word
  • Yafa Shanneik, University of Birmingham
  • Book: The Art of Resistance in Islam
  • Online publication: 06 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030335.008
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  • The Power of the Word
  • Yafa Shanneik, University of Birmingham
  • Book: The Art of Resistance in Islam
  • Online publication: 06 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030335.008
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Power of the Word
  • Yafa Shanneik, University of Birmingham
  • Book: The Art of Resistance in Islam
  • Online publication: 06 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030335.008
Available formats
×