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table of contents
Index
Page numbers in italic refer to illustrations.
- Abu-Lughod, Lila, 29
- actancy, textual, 25–32
- activism: Arab uprisings, 36–37; body as protest, 52–59; and circulation of affect, 137–38; counterprotest, 79; effectiveness of, 70; and social justice, 34; “topless” protests, 52–54, 53, 54. See also femen
- activity theory, 18
- actor-network theory, 18
- Adel, Alami, 50–51
- affect: and agency, 130–31; definitions and frameworks, 6–7, 26–27, 71; embedded in ecology, 27, 32; and rhetorical responsibility, 128–37; rhetorics of war and terror, 89–93; and social change, 31–32; on social media platforms, 9
- affective agency, 25–32
- affective circulation, 11–12, 35, 125–39; Amina Sboui case study, 35–36; and feminism, shifting perspectives, 88; and feminist rhetoric, 33–36; and social change, 126–27
- “affective currency,” 129
- affective economies, 28
- affective exchanges, 30–31
- affective futures, 137–39
- affective labor, 27
- affective pathways, 93–94. See also circulation
- Afghanistan, 113–14; as site of violence, 133
- agency, 129–30; and affect, 25–32, 130–31; in liminal spaces, 130
- Ahmed, Sara, 6, 28, 29–30, 94, 112, 128–29
- Al Arbiya News, 50
- Al Bawaba: Your Gateway to the Middle East (news site), 48
- algorithms, 18
- Amina Sboui case study, 38; affective circulation, framework of, 35–36; affective rhetorics of oppression and liberation, 73–77; amplification process, 45–46; amplification process as “world-making,” 65–67; background and context, 35, 36–42; body as protest, 52–59; channeling of meaning and endurance, 97–99; early weeks of protest, analysis of, 12–13; femen’s response to, 72–73; hysteria, accusations of, 49–52; media coverage, 47, 87–88, 128; nation, embodiment of, 59–65; objectification of body, 47–49, 100–101; oppression and liberation, rhetorics of, 73–77; reactions to, and irreconcilable feminism, 84–88; reflexivity, 132; Sboui’s motivation and impact, 41–42; Sboui’s text as risk to women, 64; social media posts as protest, 37, 40; support and solidarity, 55, 55–56; universalism and difference, rhetorics of, 77–84
- amplification process, 11, 12, 43–67; body as protest, 52–59; challenges and conflicts, 48; concept of, 43–47; contact and interpretation, 45; “knowing” and “believing,” 56–57; madness and hysteria, 49–52; nation, embodiment of, 59–65; objectification of body, 47–49; as “world-making,” 65–67
- anger: righteous, 79, 84, 87; toward white privilege, 85
- Arab Spring, 64, 90
- Arab Studies Institute, 39
- archived rhetorics, 112–23
- Atlantic (periodical), 89, 91
- author’s methodology, 2–3; affect and affective engagement, concept of, 6–9, 10; Amina Sboui case, 3–4; chapter outlines, 9–14, 125–26; intersectionality, 5–6; temporality of concepts, 14–16
- “awayness,” 70, 83, 92, 111, 128
- Bacchetta, Paola, 15
- Badass Muslimahs (blog), 84–85
- Bates, Laura, 51, 58, 63
- “battle,” rhetoric of, 89–93. See also violence
- BBC (broadcasting company), 111
- Bennett, Jane, 19
- BenYoussef, Lamia, 41
- Berlant, Lauren, 30, 94–95
- “big data,” 18
- Bin Laden, Osama, 90
- Black Lives Matter movement, 15
- Black Twitter, 22–23
- Blair, Olivia, 101
- bodies: and amplification process, 45–46; “as instrument,” 54–55; contagion, perceptions of, 49–52; digitality linked with, 11, 22; as embodiment of nation, 59–65; and focus of text, 12–13; globalization and neoliberalism, impact of, 2; objectification of, 47–49; as protest, 52–59; role in circulation, 18–25; tech as extension of, 20; Westernized views of, 49. See also nudity
- Bounce Sin (online site), 62, 64–65
- Bouteldja, Houria, 82
- Bradshaw, Jonathan, 4
- A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Harvey), 7–8
- Brown, Wendy, 61, 92
- Bush, George W., 132–33
- BuzzFeed News, 102
- Chaput, Catherine, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 34, 92–93, 131, 138; Market Affect and the Rhetoric of Political Economic Debates, 32
- circulation: affective, 11–12, 93–95; affective, and feminist rhetoric, 33–36; affective, in digital contexts, 127; bodies, role of, 18–25; definitions and concepts, 17–18; ecological model, 18; embodied nature of, 114; reembodiment of, 10–11, 14, 17–42, 129–30; reflexive, 46; textual actancy to affective agency, 25–32
- Circulation, Writing, and Rhetoric (Rickett), 19
- circulation studies, 2
- Coleman, Rebecca, 7
- colonialism: First World vs. Third World ideologies, 59; legacies of, 15, 41, 121; and racism, 135
- computer-mediated networks, 18
- contagion, perceptions of, 49–51
- Cooper, Marilyn, 129–30
- Cosslett, Rhiannon Lucy, 55–56
- counterprotest, 79. See also activism
- The Cultural Politics of Emotion (Ahmed), 6
- Daily Beast (news website), 48, 60, 61, 102, 104, 106, 108
- Daily Mail (UK news site), 50, 102, 110
- The Daily News (news site), 51
- Darman, Eshmael, 104
- Daryaei, Ahoo, 114–22, 116, 120, 121, 122
- Dean, Jodi, 23, 31
- DeVoss, Danielle Nicole, 43, 44, 70–71
- Dickinson, Greg, 24
- difference: contrasted with universalism, 103–4; rhetorics of, 77–84
- Di Giovanni, Janine, 61–62
- digital circulation. See circulation
- “digital democracy,” myth of, 15
- digital media: and amplification of affect, 137–38; as “extension” of body, 20; and transnational interaction, 1–2. See also social media platforms
- digital rhetorical studies, 2, 5
- Dingo, Rebecca, 33
- dress codes, Islamic, 114, 117–19
- Ebadi, Shirin, 120
- ecology: affect embedded in, 27, 32; ecological model of circulation studies, 18
- Edbauer-Rice, Jenny, 18, 27
- Edwards, Dustin, 19, 20
- Eileraas, Karina, 40, 41
- Elahi-Siddiqui, Areej, 81–82
- Elite Daily (online platform), 50, 51
- Elmahdy, Ailaa Magda, 40
- emotion: anger, 79, 84, 85, 87; emotional responses, 86, 101; and Facebook, 127; hysteria, 49–52; in social media, 8
- endurance, 12, 13–14, 97–123; archived rhetorics, 112–23; global rhetorics, 107–112; overview, 97–99; sedimented rhetorics, 99–103; universal rhetorics, 103–7
- engagement: affective, 8–9, 135; human-digital, 11; transnational, 66
- Ennahda Party, 39, 60
- “epidemic,” perception of, 52
- Ettounsiya TV (Tunisian television station), 49
- Facebook, 25–26, 127. See also social media platforms
- Faith Freedom (blog), 51
- Farrell, Jeremy, 39–40
- fear, role in Islam, 108
- fear-mongering, 88, 91
- femen (Ukrainian activist group), 1, 13, 37; activism in Germany, 113; and Ahoo Daryaei campaigns, 121–22; Amina Sboui, response to, 72–77; Amina Sboui, use of her texts, 52–53; calls for new Arab Spring, 90; conference disturbance, 101–3, 109; continuing media coverage of, 128; endurance of protest, 100; goals of, 47; media coverage, 90–91; as metonym, 114; Muslim Women Against femen (MWAF) as reaction to, 78–84, 80; nudity, emphasis on, 119–21; texts and amplification process, 47–48; and universal rights, 104; and warfare and terror in Arab world, 89–93
- feminism, 28–29; American feminists, opposition to, 75; assumptions concerning, 73–77; definitions and concepts, 3; and distance from Sboui’s protest, 48–49; feminist critique in Tunisia, 41; global feminism, ideal of, 3, 112; and global solidarity, 67; irreconcilable feminisms, 84–88; and protest in MENA region, 40; rhetoric and affective circulation, 33–36; transnational feminist rhetoric, 10; Tunisia and amplification as feminist nation, 61–62; universal practices, 87; Western ideologies, 55, 62, 75, 84–85; white Western feminism, critiques of, 83–84
- flags, Islamic, 89–90
- Forget the Box (online magazine), 58
- Foucault, Michel, 15
- France 24 (news outlet), 60
- free market mindsets, 21–22, 92
- gender roles. See women’s roles
- Giovanni, Janine, 48–49, 62, 70, 75
- global feminism, 3. See also feminism
- globalization: global rhetorics, 107–12; and women’s bodies, 2. See also transnationalist contexts
- “governance at a distance” (Foucault), 15
- Greenhouse, Emily, 90
- Gregg, Melissa, 30
- Grewal, Inderpal, 36, 66–67, 137
- Gries, Laurie, 19, 20, 21, 27, 45, 130
- The Guardian (newspaper), 54, 89
- Gurney, Matt, 47
- Hajri, Salma, 40
- Hardy, Alisa, 22, 137–38
- Harvey, David, 7–8, 144n16
- hashtags, 19–20; agency of, 22
- Hasso, Frances, 37
- Hennessy, Rosemary, 31
- Hesford, Wendy, 33, 60
- hijab requirements, 114, 119. See also Daryaei, Ahoo
- Hillis, Ken, 27
- Huffington Post (news website), 52–53, 64, 89
- Huffington Post UK (news website), 58, 87
- Human Rights Watch, 90, 111
- hysteria, 49–52. See also emotion
- Independent (UK-based news site), 101, 102, 107
- Instagram, 9. See also social media platforms
- interarticulation, 36
- International Business Times, 87
- Internet as public sphere, 23–24
- intersectionality: of disciplines, 5, 16; power and identity, 5–6; race and gender, 88, 109–10, 122
- invention, process of, 131
- Iran: Ahoo Daryaei case, 114–22, 116, 120, 121, 122
- Iran International (news network), 117, 118
- Iran Wire (online news outlet), 116–17
- Iraq, alternative media in, 43–44
- Islam: assumptions concerning, 73–77; dress codes, 114, 117–19; fear, role of, 108; gender roles and oppression, 110–11; Islamic flags, burning of, 89–90; Mecca Fire, 111–12; metonymic chains, 105–6; “Muslim feminists” contrasted with “Western feminists,” 78–79, 84–85; and violent oppression, 106–7; Western world contrasted with Arab world, 89–93. See also veiled Muslim women
- Macnab, Geoffrey, 107
- “madness,” 49–52
- magnification, ideological, 12, 45–46
- Mahjoub, Amir, 117
- male gaze, 48
- “market affect,” 32
- Market Affect and the Rhetoric of Political Economic Debates (Chaput), 32
- Maryam Namazie: Nothing is Sacred (blog), 60
- materiality: material aspects of affect, 6–7, 30; materialist perspectives, 9–10; material “situatedness,” 71–72; new materialism, 16, 19–20, 24–25, 27, 130
- McPartland, Ben, 109
- Mecca Fire, 111–12
- media coverage, mainstream, 87–88, 90–91, 128
- metonymies, 98–99, 103–4; femen as, 105, 108–9, 112
- MeToo movement, 15
- MFS-The Other News (blog), 50, 51
- Middle East Online (news outlet), 90
- Mikdashi, Maya, 30
- militant language, 108–9
- misogyny, 60, 77, 87, 104, 108
- Mohanty, Chandra, 59
- Monbiot, George, 22
- Movahed, Vida, 121
- Musk, Elon, 22
- Muslimah Pride Day, 78–79, 81, 86
- Muslim Women Against femen (MWAF), 13, 78–84, 80; critiques of, 85–86, 92; and irreconcilable feminisms, 84–88; MWAF critique of femen, 94; “Open-Letter to femen,” 79
- Namazie, Maryam, 57, 60, 86–87
- nation, body as embodiment of, 59–65
- National Post (newspaper), 89
- necropolitics, 10
- Nelson, Sara, 58, 64
- neoliberalism, 7–8, 21–22, 92, 144n16; affective economies, 27–28; conceptual frameworks, 25; and Internet, 127; universality and solidarity, 114; and women’s bodies, 2
- Networked Affect (Hillis et al.), 27
- Networking Arguments (Dingo), 33
- “new materialist” turn, 16, 19–20, 24–25, 27, 130
- New Statesman (periodical), 55
- Newsweek (periodical), 111
- New Yorker (periodical), 89, 90
- Nguyen, Kim Hong, 25, 26
- Nomani, Asra, 104, 105–6
- Nothing is Sacred (blog), 57
- nudity: and liberation, 119–21; media reaction to, 47; and objectification of body, 47; perceptions of, 86, 117. See also bodies
- NY Daily News (newspaper), 89
- Obama, Barack, 21
- object-oriented frameworks, 2, 11, 16, 18–19, 20, 126
- objectification of bodies, 47–49
- oppression: affective rhetorics of, 73–77; gender oppression, 114, 116, 119, 127, 133; and militant language, 108–9; veil as symbol of, 29; and violence, 107; Western ideologies, 103
- “othering” of bodies, 109, 128
- Ott, Brian L., 24
- Paasonen, Susanna, 27
- Patheos (website), 132
- Petit, Michael, 27
- Pfister, Damien Smith, 22
- Plumb, Alexander, 100–101, 102, 110
- polarization, 69–70; magnetic, scientific model of, 71; and velocity, 93–95; Western feminism vs. Islam, 78–79, 99
- power relations, 14–15, 16; asymmetrical dynamics, 11, 139; challenges to power structures, 8–9; and circulation, 4–5, 24–25, 139; empowerment vs. disempowerment, 61; and neoliberalism, 7–8; “thing-power,” 2, 19, 27; in transnational contexts, 34; and visibility, 22–23
- protest. See activism
- public decency laws, 114. See also Daryaei, Ahoo
- Pussy Riot, 40, 52, 58
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 43–44
- “recomposition,” 44, 70–71
- “Redefining Rhetoric” (Ott & Dickinson), 24
- reflexivity, 131–32, 136–37; and circulation, 46
- relationality, 11, 27, 128–29, 131–32
- rhetorical studies: and digital circulation, 5; “new materialist” turn, 16, 19–20, 24–25, 27, 130; rhetoric and social change, 131–37
- Riaz, Hana, 82–83
- Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, 63
- Rickett, Thomas, 19
- Ridolfo, Jim, 43, 44, 70–71
- Ridolfo, Kathleen, 43–44
- Ronaghi, Hossein, 120
- Roosh V (website), 75–77
- Salime, Zakia, 37
- Salzano, Matthew, 22
- Saudi Arabia: Mecca Fire, 111–12; oppression within, 111
- Sboui, Amina, 1, 35; and author’s methodology, 3–4. See also Amina Sboui case study
- Schemm, Paul, 89
- sedimentation, 98, 112; sedimented rhetorics, 99–103. See also endurance
- Seigworth, Gregory, 30
- Shevchenko, Inna, 54, 56–57, 87–88, 91, 107. See also femen (Ukrainian activist group)
- Shout Out UK (news source), 100
- “situatedness,” 71–72
- SlutWalk, 40, 52
- social media platforms: and critical engagement, 9; and emotion, 8; Facebook, 25–26, 237; Muslim Women Against femen (MWAF) use of, 78–79; public vs. private life entanglements, 25–26; X (formerly Twitter), 9, 22–23
- solidarity, 28–29; among women, 81–82; coalition-building contrasted with “us-them” relationships, 85–87; contrasted with women’s multiple identities, 82–84; global, 67; with historic activism, 57; and support for Amina Sboui, 55–56; as white privilege, 82
- Spectacular Rhetorics (Hesford), 33
- Spivak, Gayatri, 59, 66
- Still Life with Rhetoric (Gries), 19, 21
- surveillance, 15
- Swann, Greg, 74–75
- Taliban, 88, 113, 114
- Tashabilities (tumblr), 85
- Tayler, Jeffrey, 91–92
- temporality: and author’s methodology, 14–16; and ephemerality in digital spaces, 4
- terrorism, 114, 133; “War on Terror,” 1–2, 108
- textual actancy, 25–32
- “thing activity,” 21
- “thing-matter,” 19
- “thing-power,” 2, 19–20, 27
- “thing-symbol,” 24
- TikTok, 9; movements to ban, 15. See also social media platforms
- time. See temporality
- Time Magazine, 114
- “Titslamism,” 47, 76, 90
- “topless” protests, 52–54, 53, 54
- “towardness,” 70, 83, 92, 128
- transcoding, 36
- “Transnational Feminist Practices Against War” (Bacchetta), 15
- transnationalist contexts: facilitated by digital media, 1–2; feminist rhetoric, 10, 33–36
- transsituationality, 28, 32, 114
- Trump, Donald, 92–93; rhetoric of, 15–16
- Tunisia: Amina Sboui case, 1; Amina Sboui case, reaction to, 37; amplification as feminist nation, 61–63; constitution and women’s rights, 37–40, 146n67; embodiment of nation, 59–60; feminist critique within, 41; women’s rights, 49, 90
- Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, 40
- Twitter (rebranded X), 9, 22–23. See also social media platforms
- veiled Muslim women, 28–29; nudity as antithesis of veil, 86; veil as symbol of agency, 106; veil as symbol of oppression, 29, 71, 98
- velocity, 11, 13, 69–95, 132; affective rhetorics of oppression and liberation, 73–77; affective rhetorics of universalism and difference, 77–84; affective rhetorics of war and terror, 89–93; and effectiveness of activism, 70; and irreconcilable feminisms, 84–88; overview, 69–73; and polarization, 93–95
- Vibrant Matter (Bennett), 19
- violence: associated with beliefs about Islam, 98–99; and fear, 107–8; language of, 15–16; and militant language, 108–9; and oppression of women, 109–10; terrorism, 114, 133
- visibility in digital spaces, 22, 127, 132
- warfare, rhetoric of, 89–93
- Warner, Michael, 46, 51, 56
- “War on Terror,” 1–2, 108
- Warren, Elizabeth, 92–93
- Washington Post (newspaper), 89
- wealth. See neoliberalism
- Western ideologies, 62, 136; feminism, 29, 53, 55, 57, 59, 67, 78, 81–85, 100; of liberation and bodies, 47, 49, 103, 118
- white privilege, 85
- white saviour concepts, 134–35
- WorldNetDaily (news outlet), 102, 106
- women’s roles: global gender hierarchies, 81; multiple identities of women, 82–84; Muslim women, 28–29; oppressed vs. oppressors, 110–11; and protest in MENA, 37; women, oppression of, 109–11; women’s psychology and “hysteria,” 50–51; women’s rights in Tunisia, 90
- Women Under Siege (blog), 51, 58, 63
- “worlding,” 66
- “world-making,” 46, 56, 65–67