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Postsecular resistance, the body, and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution

Mavelli, Luca (2012) Postsecular resistance, the body, and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Review of International Studies, 38 (05). pp. 1057-1078. ISSN 0260-2105. (doi:10.1017/S0260210512000472) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:33923)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0260210512000472

Abstract

At the heart of the notion of the postsecular is an implied and largely under-theorised idea of resistance against the pathologies of modern secular formations. This is most notably exemplified by Jürgen Habermas's highly influential approach which argues that these pathologies can be resisted through a cooperative cognitive effort of secular and religious consciousnesses. This article contends that this understanding overlooks more embodied forms of resistance to the effect that it curtails our capacity to conceptualise postsecular resistance in international relations. Following a contextualisation of Habermas's approach in the broader Kantian tradition to which it belongs, the article develops a contending Foucauldian reading of the body as a locus of resistance and uses this framework to analyse some of the events leading to the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The focus is on the publication of images and videos of police abuses by Egyptian bloggers and independent media as a practice of resistance to the widespread and systematic use of torture. The emotional response to these images, it will be argued, contributed to unite Egyptians despite longstanding fractures, most notably that between secularists and Islamists, thus turning the body from an ‘inscribed surface of events’ into a postsecular locus of resistance. The article concludes by highlighting the main implications of this analysis for future research agendas on the postsecular in international relations.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S0260210512000472
Subjects: H Social Sciences
J Political Science > JC Political theory
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Funders: [UNSPECIFIED] ESRC
Depositing User: Luca Mavelli
Date Deposited: 20 May 2013 08:13 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:11 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/33923 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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