The Female Martyr and the Politics of Death

An Examination of the Martyr Discourses of Vibia Perpetua and Wafa Idris

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8207765
AutoresStephen P Dunn (0000-0002-5677-0827, autor correspondente), S Dunn
Ano2010
Volume78
Fascículo1
Páginas202-225
Data de publicação2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfp090
OpenAlexW2031210758
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas4

This essay examines female martyr narratives from two different traditions and historical periods to show a pattern between gender, politics, and martyrdom. In the stories of Vibia Perpetua and Wafa Idris, martyrdom gives women access to political participation. The narratives crafted about these women and their deaths reflect ambivalence about this participation, for they tend to reinforce strict gender roles for women. An examination of female martyr narratives allows us to compare the reasons that individuals, who write on behalf of communities, use to justify women acting as dealers in death. Martyrs engage in truth-producing actions through their deaths, and thus these actions must be regulated. Authorities in Islam and Christianity limit the reasons one may kill and be killed; the female martyr represents an interesting case as she transgresses boundaries of theological traditions and also reinstates them.

Art · Martyr · Political science · Politics · Theology · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Islamic Studies and History · Law · North African History and Literature · Philosophy