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Abstract
This essay explores the material, phenomenological and political meaning of the Syrian corpse and the question of its dignity as represented in a series of media and visual outputs from 2011 to the present. The essay begins by arguing that the violence in Syria now targets the dead as much as the living. As such, the essay highlights the forms of ‘necroviolence’ that the Syrian corpse has been subjected to: mistreatment, erasure of markers of identity, denial of burial, mutilation and ultimately an attempt to erase it from memory. The essay concludes by arguing that the Syrian corpse is not merely the passive subject or victim of ‘necroviolence’ but can also become the paradoxical agent of what we might call ‘postmortem resistance’.
Notes
* In this essay, I use the common spellings of Arabic names and phrases that are most familiar to English-speaking readers. For all other terms, I use a simplified version of the transliteration system used by the International Journal of Middle East Studies. I also omit all diacritical marks except for the ayn (‘) and Hamza (’).
1. On philosophical discussions of the concept of dignity see Rosen (Citation2012). On whether the dead have dignity see Glahn (Citation2012).
2. See, for example, the work of pharmacist and physician Ibn al-Baytar (1197–1248 AD), especially Kitab al-Jamiʿ li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wa-l-Aghdhiya [Dictionary of Simple Remedies and Food].
3. Hadith is the body of literature related to the sayings and action of Prophet Mohammad. Muslims regard them as second only to the Quran.
4. These were erected during the Mamluk period (1250–1517).
5. Thrailkill’s postulation is made in the context of an analysis of Cathy Caruth’s argument on the dead child and his father and the impossibility of representation.
6. See ‘Syrians are not Numbers’ facebook. https://www.facebook.com/events/1056029197760332/
7. Rihab Allawi was a Syrian activist who, according to the campaign, was tortured to death. Allawi was from the city of Mohassan in Deir ez-Zor and was studying civil engineering at Damascus University. She was arrested on 16 January 2013. Her face was later identified amongst the leaked pictures.
8. I will subsequently refer to it as Saint Chrysostom.
9. For a doctrine on incorruptibility see Moss (Citation2016).
10. This drawing is also known as Shahid and Morning Star.
11. Pierced Heart and Skull and Butterfly can be viewed online. See Galerie Claude Lemand’s website http://www.claude-lemand.com/artiste/nouvelle-traduction-youssef-abdelke?souspage=oeuvres&type_oeuvre=Works%20on%20paper&id_rub=15
12. The two museums are the Aros museum in Aarhus and the Faurschou Foundation in Copenhagen.