Iranian consecration of Irish nationalist ‘martyrs’: the Islamic Republic of Iran and the 1981 republican prisoners’ hunger strike in Northern Ireland

This article focuses on the official and semi-official Iranian coverage and representation of the 1981 republican prisoners’ hunger strike in Northern Ireland and the related corporeal constructs of the hunger strikers as ‘martyred’ bodies. The particular characterization and utilization of Irish republican hunger strikers by media outlets, officials, and other propagandists of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) was an instance of groups outside Northern Ireland appropriating Irish nationalist bodies for their own ends. IRI commentators re-articulated the starving bodies of Irish republican hunger strikers, re-infusing them with symbolic meanings in a cross-cultural and ideologically laden configuration in the service of IRI’s self-projection as the patron of worldwide struggles for justice and liberation against the twin forces of imperialism and domestic opponents. In the process, IRI added its own layers of agency and politically crafted somatic meaning to the hunger strike. Meanwhile, IRI’s extensive advocacy of the republican hunger strike in Northern Ireland was eagerly welcomed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), to which most hunger strikers belonged; with PIRA and its political wing, Provisional Sinn Féin, hoping to secure diplomatic recognition, and possibly material aid, from the Iranian government for bolstering PIRA’s domestic and international standing vis-à-vis the British government.     

A Cultural-Psychological Theory of Contemporary Islamic Martyrdom

What political, economic, religious, and emotional factors are involved in a person's decision to kill civilians and military personnel through the sacrifice of his or her own life? Data for this research were secondary analyses of interviews with Islamic martyrs, as well as their leaders’ speeches. This investigation into the cultural‐psychological explanations for Islamic martyrdom leads to a model explaining a person's decision to carry out the mission as resulting from a combination of four factors: the historical‐cultural context, group processes, immediate and anticipated rewards, and mechanisms to eradicate possible doubts and guilt regarding this decision. Compared to existing models, this model is more integrative and focused on the psychological processes involved.     

Witness and martyrdom: Palestinian female martyrs’ video-testimonies

ABSTRACT

During the second Intifada which started in 2000 and ended sometime in mid 2000s, Palestinian male and female martyrs used video testimonies, records and documents of death, using the first person pronoun so as to articulate their missions and justifications for carrying out their acts of martyrdom. This study, which focuses on Palestinian female martyrs’ video-testimonies, investigates the elusive relationship between martyrdom and witness. I contend that the female martyr is a witness to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to the oppression and dehumanisation to which Palestinians are subject. Palestinian female martyrs are also witnesses to Arab leaders’ weakness and their inability to defend Palestine. The act of martyrdom is a collective one, involving the martyr, the agent of narration and the audience. The audience, who bears witness to the martyr, is necessary for martyrdom to be recognised and to take place. I argue that the end of the martyr’s speech marks out her silence and her transformation into an icon of resistance, heroism and sacrifice. The corpse of the martyr is transformed into the corpus of martyr’s speeches and images that are disseminated by the audience who bear witness to the acts of martyrdom.     

明末清初儒教与天主教的冲撞与调适——王徵的“纳妾”与“殉明”

明末清初,基督教开始了华夏大地的第三次传入。利玛窦儒服传教,开始了耶儒之间的接触、交流、碰撞、调和的过程。作为明代进士出身的陕西泾阳人王徵,也就在那个大变迁的年代,通过信仰的抉择,最终受洗入天主教。王徵入教,不光在信仰上虔诚行事,而且还积极翻译介绍西方科学著作,同时还创造性地调适儒教信条与天主教教义,完成《畏天爱人极论》的思想作品,值得进一步研究。旨在探讨明末清初儒教与天主教的对话与不断调适,及中西文化在陌生中逐渐走近的艰苦历程。显然王徵的"纳妾"、"殉明"是违背天主教诫规的,而"纳妾"、"殉明"又是符合儒教信条的,通过对王徵的"纳妾"事件、"殉明"事件的重点分析,深度探讨王徵是如何完成自己的信仰逻辑。