Halaqas, relational subjects, and revolutionary committees in Syria

Bibliographic Data

ID19005859
AuthorsCharlotte Al‐khalili (0000-0003-4474-4901, corresponding author), Charlotte Al-Khalili
Year2021
Volume2021
Issue91
Pages50-66
Publication date2021-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFocaal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-1297 • E-ISSN: 1558-5263
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/fcl.2021.910104
OpenAlexW3207273594
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited14

Through an ethnographic account of Syrian halaqas (Sunni religious circles) from the 1980s until the 2011 Syrian revolution, this article argues that halaqas have a revolutionary potential. The analysis demonstrates that Syrian religious circles are spaces of self-transformation that have heterotopic qualities. The Darayya halaqa studied here is a space where present and future are collapsed: a space in which future revolutionary selves and societies are already enacted. This temporal collapse is thus simultaneously a scalar one, for through the emergence of a relational or unbounded subject, a revolutionary project is being performed. This project is, moreover, without a preexisting program that its members seek to implement in a distant future; it is rather a revolutionary project that is perpetually in the making through discussions and actions happening within it

Epistemology · Ethnography · Happening · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy · Turkey's Politics and Society

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