Squatted Sacred Spaces
A Left-Radical Political Theology of Hamburg’s Rote Flora
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12662982 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ali Jones (0000-0003-0018-0681, Coventry University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 380-401 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-27 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1462-317X • E-ISSN: 1743-1719 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1462317x.2024.2322863 |
| OpenAlex | W4392192574 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 15 |
This paper analyzes Hamburg’s (in)famous squatted Rote Flora to argue that Left-radical squats can be fruitfully read as “sacred spaces.” It uses political theology vis-à-vis sacredness to understand fringe Left-radical subjects, and elucidates their purity concerns of space and political subjectivity. To this end, the paper adapts Bataille’s “left-sacred to the left-radical subject concerned with purity in the sense of being” “unassimilable” or “holy and set apart” from society. This occurs via maintaining a space that is “non-negotiable” to profane societal values, rather than in any deity-oriented or classical religious sense. Within this reading, these heterogeneous spaces must be maintained and kept “pure” of homogeneous profane (capitalist) influences. The paper analyzes these purity concerns via three manifestations: (1) the squat’s spatial purity from profane societal contamination or influence; (2) language and the fear of discursive integration through contracts; (3) the formation and reification of the pure, ascetic identity
Biology · Flora (microbiology · Political science · Political theology · Politics · Theology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religious studies · Religious Studies
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |