Call for papers: « Martyrdom, Sacrifice and Collective Identities ». Deadline : 2005 February 1st.

Throughout history, individuals have given their lives to further a communal cause and the community, in return, has accorded a special place to martyrs and their sacrifice. This panel seeks to compare and juxtapose the role of the discourse on martyrs in different Middle Eastern contexts in the 20th century.  We want to examine the relationship between violent death, communal solidarity, and constructions of political power. How do the realms of the political and the religious intersect? How are discourses of martyrdom used to mobilize individuals not only to kill themselves (only few actually do), but to create ideas of a community whose members are willing to bring sacrifices?  How do members of a community circulate andreproduce stories of martyrdom?

Members of the panel should address the following questions, in order to facilitate comparative discussions: Can we distinguish between political/nationalist and religious elements of the discourse of martyrdom? If so, what is the relationship or the tension between the two?  Are secular and religious concepts of martyrdom related to different patterns of mobilization to sacrifice and commemoration of the martyrs? In what way does the image and symbol of the martyr define the notion of citizenship, the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of members of the community, and the idea of rights/responsibilities/roles of individuals in their community? With these questions we hope to address how individuals get politically mobilized in times of supposed rational modernity.  In what way does the figure of the martyr challenge or reconfirm the mainstream belief that rationality governs our modern lives?

Please submit a 250 word abstract to Tamir Sorek (ts292@cornell.edu) and Lucia Volk (lvolk@sfsu.edu) by 2005 February 1st, if you are interested in participating in this MESA panel.

Lucia Volk + Assistant Professor + Department of Anthropology +

San Francisco State University

1600 Holloway Ave. + San Francisco, CA 94132 + phone: (415) 405-2468

fax: (415) 338-0530.