the clash of articulations: aesthetic shock, multivalent narratives and islam in the post

294 Pages·2017·5.05 MB·English

by  Rebecca Johnson

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THE CLASH OF ARTICULATIONS:
AESTHETIC SHOCK, MULTIVALENT NARRATIVES AND ISLAM IN THE POST-
9/11 ERA

A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Humanities

2017

REBECCA JOHNSON
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Research Context.………………………………………………………………….…………………..…11
1.2 Narrative Theory in the Post-9/11 Context……….………………………….……………….20
1.3 Data Material & Research Questions.……………………………………….…………………..26
1.4 Overview of Chapters…………………………………………………………………………………...29

Chapter 2: Aesthetic Shock as Resistance to Post-9/11 Narrative Hegemony
2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..……………..……...…33
2.2 Temporality & Selfhood………………………………………………………………….………..……33
2.3 Narrative Hegemony…………………………………………………………….…….…….…………..40
2.4 Narrative Agency……………………………………………………………..………….……..……...…46
2.5 Ambiguity & Multivalence……………………………………………………………………………..48
2.6 Aesthetic Shock………………………………………………………………………………….……….…53
2.7 Aesthetic Shock & Post 9/11 Narrativity………………………………………………………..58
2.8 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..…………..…….…….….64

Chapter 3: A Narrative Methodology
3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..…………….………….66
3.2 Data selection
3.2.1 Overview…………………………………………………………………………………..……..66
3.2.2 Theme………………………………………………………………………..…………………….67
3.2.3 Language……………………………………………………………….………..……………….67
3.2.4 Temporal Spread………………………………………………………….…………………..68
3.2.5 Format………………………………………………………………..……..…………………….69
3.2.6 Genre………………………………………………………………………..…….……………….70
3.3 Data Analysis Overview……………………………………………………………………….………..71
3.4 Presentation of data
3.4.1 Pilot Study Text…………………………………………………………………..……………..…72
3.4.2 Main Data Set Texts………………………………………………………………………..…...73
3.5 Pilot Study (Director’s cut of “P.H.A.T.W.A.” by The Narcicyst)
3.5.1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………..………….…..81
3.5.2. Format and Framing…………………………………………..……………………….……82
3.5.3. Character: Rapper as Protagonist………………………..…………………..….……84
3.5.4. Temporality……………………………………………………………….………………….….89
3.5.5. Multivalence………………………………………….……………….…………….………….95
3.6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..………...…………103
Chapter 4: 9/11 and the War on Terror: Temporal Multivalence
4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..………………..….…….….104
4.2 9/11………………………………………………………………………..…………………………….……………104
4.2.1 Temporality………………………………………………………………………..……………….106
4.2.2 Multivalence…………………………………………………………..…………………………..116
4.3 The War on Terror………………………………………………………………………..…………………….129
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4.3.1 Hip Hop………………………………………………………………………..…………..…..…….129
4.3.2 Comedy………………………………………………………………………..…………………..…153
4.4 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..……………..….…….….……182

Chapter 5: Clash of Civilisations, Palestine: Renarration and the Rhizome
5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..………...……….………..…184
5.2 Clash of Civilisations……………………………………………………………………….………..……..….184
5.2.1 The Taqwacores (Zahra 2010/Knight 2004)…………………………………….……186
5.2.2 Diam’s “Enfants du désert”………………………………..…………………….…….……199
5.3 Palestine……………………………………………………………………………………………..…..………….220
5.3.1 Gaza Parkour Team ‘After Banksy: The Parkour Guide to Gaza’………..…223
5.3.2 Ana Tijoux feat. Shadia Mansour “Somos sur”………………………………...….236
5.4 Conclusion………..……………………………………………………………..……………………..………….250

Chapter 6: Conclusion
6.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..………………….….252
6.2 Findings………………………………………………………………………..…………..…………..…….…….254
6.3 Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………………………………..….….….265
6.4 Recommendations for Future Research………………………..………….………………….….…266
6.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………267
References………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………..269
Appendix 1: Data Table…………………………………………………………………………….……...……..284
Appendix 2: Lyrics “Bin Laden” by Immortal Technique feat. Mos Def………....……....285
Appendix 3: iTunes Store album review of S.O.S. by Diam’s (2009)…….………..…….….288
Appendix 4: Lyrics “Enfants du désert” by Diam’s (French & English versions)……....289

Word Count: 80 364

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ABSTRACT
This study investigates a multilingual data set of audiovisual popular culture texts
produced in the post-9/11 era, which challenge hegemonic narratives relating to Islam
and the War on Terror. The languages represented by the 13 texts are French, English,
Spanish and Arabic, and the performative genres are hip hop, comedy, punk and parkour.
Using the sociological manifestation of narrative theory as the framework for analysis
(Baker 2006, Somers 1994), I explore how a combination of aesthetics and ‘multivalence’
– i.e. the co-existence of seemingly contradictory narratives within a single text (Stroud
2002) – can throw a subject out of uncritical immersion in their normative narrative
environment and open up an affective space for new meanings and values to enter. This
technique, which I term ‘aesthetic shock’, addresses a widespread critique of socio-
narrative theory; namely, the failure to account for how social agents might subscribe to
narratives that contradict their worldview.
More broadly, it is argued that the multivalent texts under analysis constitute a form of
aesthetic activism that enables individuals to assert themselves against oppressive and
essentialist cultural narratives; notably in this case, Samuel Huntington’s divisive ‘Clash of
Civilisations’ thesis (1996) – which remains prominent in public discourse despite being
heavily critiqued in academia, given its political expediency in the context of economic
globalism. Supplementing the narrative analysis with recent theorisations of affect and
Deleuzian philosophy, I contend that aesthetic forms of political resistance, facilitated by
digital culture, are becoming more relevant across different language communities as the
rationalist, nation-state paradigm loses currency. Hence, the 13 texts are seen as part of
an epistemological groundswell that is symptomatic of our time, whereby contradiction
and aesthetics emerge as key tools for resistance to neoliberal hegemony.

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DECLARATION

No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an
application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other
institute of learning.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My most heartfelt gratitude to my supervisors, Professors Mona Baker and Luis Pérez-
González, and my independent reviewers, Dr Barbara Lebrun and Dr Caterina Sinibaldi,
for the privileged opportunity to work with you all, and for your unwavering moral
support throughout the process.

Thank you also to my parents; to my friends Emma Phillips, Jane Colechin, Junyi Chew,
Kate Rafiq, Martin Fergie, Rosie Edgley, Sajida Holmes and Tom Holness; and to my cats
Poncho & Luna and little dog Yasmin, for their company.

Finally, special thanks to Ruth Abou Rached for her very kind help with the Daya al Taseh
text – and for all the coffee breaks!

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For my grandma, Audrey
1929-2016

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And we are alive in amazing times,
Delicate hearts, diabolical minds,
Revelations, hatred, love and war,
And more and more and more and more,
And more of less than ever before,
It's just too much more for your mind to absorb,
It's scary like hell, but there's no doubt,
We can't be alive in no time but NOW.

“Life in Marvelous Times” (2008), Yasiin Bey a.k.a. Mos Def

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Abstract ideas and concrete realities are not the same, of course, but the
journey between them is shaped by the stories we tell and how they are
interpreted. The stronger the narrative, and the more successfully it
occupies space in people’s imaginations, the more likely is its version of
how things are to dominate and direct their energies and choices. (Abdalla
2016: 37)

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