State Martyrs: Aesthetics and Performativity of a Contemporary Political Discourse
In: Journal of Religion in EuropeSearch for other papers by Baldassare Scolari in
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The paper focuses on the emergence of national state martyrs in modernity. The investigation postulates a connection between procedures of legitimization of political authority and martyr figurations. It considers martyrological representations as linguistic performances, opening a civil religious space. On the basis of genealogical discourse analysis, the author argues that through secularization the figure of the martyr underwent a transition from the sacral and theological to the profane and political sphere of meaning. In the final part, the paper analyzes the ideological implications of the representation of politician Aldo Moro, killed in 1978 by the Red Brigades, as a state martyr.
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4
See Laleh Khalili, Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); Lori A. Allen, “Martyr Bodies in the Media: Human Rights, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Immediation in the Palestinian Intifada,” American Ethnologist 36/1 (2009), 161–180; Yael S. Feldmann, “Märtyrer oder Krieger? Die Wiedererfindung Isaaks als Kriegsheld im jüdischen Palestina,” in: Horsch & Treml (eds.), Grenzgänger, 341–356.
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10
René Girard, La violenza e il sacro (Milano: Adelphi, 1980), 13–62.
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23
Robert H. Bellah, “Civil Religion in America,” Dædalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 96/1 (1967), 1–21, at 8.
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24
Marcela Cristi, From Civil to Political Religion: The Intersection of Culture, Religion and Politics (Waterloo: Wilfried Laurier University Press, 2001), 4.
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27
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Political Economy and the Social Contract (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 166.
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28
See Christopher Bertham, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Rousseau and the Social Contract (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), 185.
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32
Albert Soboul, La rivoluzione francese (Bari: Laterza, 1966), 332.
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35
Quoted in Joseph Clarke, Commemorating the Dead in Revolutionary France: Revolution and Remembrance, 1789–1799 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 171.
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38
Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 126.
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40
Giorgio Agamben, The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011), 4.
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42
Hans Blumenberg, Die Legitimität der Neuzeit (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1996), 119.
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46
See, e.g., Theofried Baumeister, Die Anfänge der Theologie des Martyriums (Münster: Aschendorff, 1980); Herbert Musurillo, The Acts of the Pagan Martyrs: Acta Alexandrinorum (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954).
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51
See Karl Rahner, Zur Theologie des Todes: Mit einem Exkurs über das Martyrium (Freiburg: Herder, 1958), 91.
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56
Giorgio Galli, Piombo rosso, 106. Franceschini was one of the historical leaders and founders of the Red Brigades; Moretti was one of the Red Brigades’ leaders in the late 1970s and one of the kidnappers of Aldo Moro; P2 was a clandestine (after 1976) masonic lodge.
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60
See Robin Erica Wagner-Pacifici, The Moro Morality Play: Terrorism as Social Drama (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 220–230; Alessandro Silj, Brigate Rosse-Stato: Lo scontro-spettacolo nella regia della stampa quotidiana (Firenze: Vallecchi, 1978).
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62
Gianfranco Piazzesi, “Stoica dignità,” Corriere della Sera, 19 March 1978, 1.
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63
Francesco Grisi, “La forza della ragione,” Il Popolo, 21 March 1978, 5.
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65
Maurizio Chierici, “Isolamento, droga, veglia prolungata: Ecco come si annienta la personalità,” Coriere della Sera, 31 March 1978, 4; Roberto Martinelli, “La lettera autografa di Moro forse scritta sotto dettatura,” Coriere della Sera, 31 March 1978, 4.
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66
Antonio Saba, “Nel carcere del popolo la violenza psicologica rende desiderabile la morte,” La Repubblica, 31 March 78, 4; Giovanni Maria Pace, “Tortura dura e raffinata ma senza l‘uso della droga,” La Repubblica, 31 March 78, 5.
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67
Gianfranco Piazzesi, “La forza della dignità,” Corriere della Sera, 07 April 1978, 1.
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69
Michele Pellegrino, “La morte dell’innocente disegno misterioso di Dio,” La Stampa, 10 May 1978, 3.
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70
See Miguel Gotor (ed.), Aldo Moro: Lettere dalla prigionia (Torino: Einaudi, 2008), 185–390; Francesco Barbagallo, “Le lettere della prigione di Aldo Moro,” Studi storici 49/1 (2008), 261–267; Giorgio Bocca (ed.), Moro: Una tragedia italiana (Milano: Bompiani, 1978), 7–32; Galli, Piombo rosso, 106–132; Wagner-Pacifici, Moro, 260–261.
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81
In September 2012, the Diocesan Tribunal of Rome gave the green light for the investigation into the potential beatification of Moro, after the authorization given by Cardinal Augusto Vallini, Vicar of the Pope, referring to the statesman as a “servant of God.” The argument in favor of the beatification claims that Moro is a martyr in odium fidei, namely a martyr because of aversion to the faith of his executioners.
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State Martyrs: Aesthetics and Performativity of a Contemporary Political Discourse
In: Journal of Religion in EuropeSearch for other papers by Baldassare Scolari in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The paper focuses on the emergence of national state martyrs in modernity. The investigation postulates a connection between procedures of legitimization of political authority and martyr figurations. It considers martyrological representations as linguistic performances, opening a civil religious space. On the basis of genealogical discourse analysis, the author argues that through secularization the figure of the martyr underwent a transition from the sacral and theological to the profane and political sphere of meaning. In the final part, the paper analyzes the ideological implications of the representation of politician Aldo Moro, killed in 1978 by the Red Brigades, as a state martyr.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 358 | 45 | 5 |
| Full Text Views | 272 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 71 | 8 | 0 |