The symbolic construction of national identity and belonging in Syrian nationalist songs (from 1970 to 2007)

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the relationship between the construction of masculinist national identity and the perpetuation of nationalist songs after the ascendance of the Syrian Bàth regime. Popular in schools and Bàth-affiliated organisations, and performed on national holidays and festivals, nationalist songs are an important component of Syrian oral culture. They are premeditated to construct a particular perception of national belonging and identity. Covering two different periods (the 1973 war to1990 and 1990–2007), the article examines the ways these songs construct the nation around the normalisation of sacrificial death and argues that, through the perpetuation of masculinist values as key characteristics of national belonging and identity, these songs obscure women’s status in Syrian political culture and contribute to their subordination.

KEYWORDS:

• Syria
• nationalist songs
• personality cult
• masculinism
• national symbolism
• women’s subordination

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the editor of this journal, Dr Michelle Obeid, for her constructive feedback and comments on different drafts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Rahaf Aldoughli teaches courses on the Comparative Politics and International Relations of the Middle East, and is a Visiting Fellow at LSE Middle East Centre. Her areas of research expertise include identifying the ideological borrowings between European and Arab nationalism, the rise of the nation-state in the Middle East, the Syria crisis, militarism and the construction of masculinity in the Arab world. Her research also focuses on the association between the rise of nation-states in the Middle East and the perpetuation of militarism, despotism and fundamentalism, analysing militarism in the Arab context not only as an institution used by the state, but also as an ideology that perpetuates masculinity and gender bias. Before moving to Lancaster, Rahaf was a lecturer at the University of Manchester teaching Modern Middle Eastern History. She was based at the Centre for Cultural History of War. She completed her doctorate in Politics at Lancaster University in 2017. She is currently working on her book Constructing the nation: masculinism and gender bias in Syrian nationalism, which looks at the idealisation of militarism in Syrian culture and constitutions with particular focus on the origin of the Ba’ath ideology in the thought of Syrian nationalists.

Notes

1 Laurel is a symbol of victory in Syria and other Arab contexts.