An Enduring Monument
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12955718 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elizabeth Rauh (0000-0003-0081-3856, University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 141-173 |
| Publication date | 2018-07-26 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1873-9857 • E-ISSN: 1873-9865 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/18739865-01102004 |
| OpenAlex | W2884316425 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 10 |
On the morning of 18 March 2011, Bahrain’s state television broadcast the razing of the Pearl Roundabout and its iconic sculpture. This event, unsurprisingly, failed to quell the struggle between activists and the ruling elite. Rather, the destruction of the Pearl Monument (Luʾluʾ) and Bahrain’s ‘Pearl Square’ offered demonstrators a readymade symbol embodying the traumatic and violent days of the 2011 demonstrations and the ongoing government suppression of reform movements. Rematerializations of the Luʾluʾ through photographs, graffiti, digital art, sculptural maquettes and even costumes echo the physical structure in miniature and continue to regenerate and multiply the monument like a viral meme. Through such manifestations and reanimations the now-vanished monument continues to occupy Bahrain’s public spaces and civic memory, enduringly resisting the state’s efforts to erase it and all it represents. In examining the ‘lifecycle’ of the Luʾluʾ, this article explores how an act of iconoclasm can result in an outpouring of new creative activities
Archaeology · Art · Art history · Elite · Graffiti · Iconoclasm · Pearl · Political science · Politics · Sculpture · State (computer science · Symbol (formal · Visual arts · Computer Science · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |