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Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent
A National Endowment for Democracy Notable Book of 2022
Protest has been a key method of political claim-making in Jordan from the late Ottoman period to the present day. More than moments of rupture within normal-time politics, protests have been central to challenging state power, as well as reproducing it—and the spatial dynamics of protests play a central role in the construction of both state and society. With this book, Jillian Schwedler considers how space and geography influence protests and repression, and, in challenging conventional narratives of Hashemite state-making, offers the first in-depth study of rebellion in Jordan.
Based on twenty-five years of field research, Protesting Jordan examines protests as they are situated in the built environment, bringing together considerations of networks, spatial imaginaries, space and place-making, and political geographies at local, national, regional, and global scales. Schwedler considers the impact of time and temporality in the lifecycles of individual movements. Through a mixed interpretive methodology, this book illuminates the geographies of power and dissent and the spatial practices of protest and repression, highlighting the political stakes of competing narratives about Jordan's past, present, and future.
Protest has been a key method of political claim-making in Jordan from the late Ottoman period to the present day. More than moments of rupture within normal-time politics, protests have been central to challenging state power, as well as reproducing it—and the spatial dynamics of protests play a central role in the construction of both state and society. With this book, Jillian Schwedler considers how space and geography influence protests and repression, and, in challenging conventional narratives of Hashemite state-making, offers the first in-depth study of rebellion in Jordan.
Based on twenty-five years of field research, Protesting Jordan examines protests as they are situated in the built environment, bringing together considerations of networks, spatial imaginaries, space and place-making, and political geographies at local, national, regional, and global scales. Schwedler considers the impact of time and temporality in the lifecycles of individual movements. Through a mixed interpretive methodology, this book illuminates the geographies of power and dissent and the spatial practices of protest and repression, highlighting the political stakes of competing narratives about Jordan's past, present, and future.
- GenresMiddle East
372 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 19, 2022
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April 27, 2023
This ethnography was deeply attentive to analytical concepts of scale, the future as a cultural fact, and temporality – including not only the present, but also the past and the future. Schwedler argues that protests are more than just events, and should be seen also as a set of behaviors that “embody meaning through their routine practices as much as their disruptions” (148). Therefore, it is important that we are attentive to not only the intention behind the protests, but also the spaces they are or are not held in, the histories they bring to the forefront, and both how they are shaped by and work to alter the built environment. Protests evoke the future as a cultural fact, I found, in their reliance on a collective imagination, and aspiration and anticipation of the future.
This is not to say that intent is not an important aspect of consideration in ethnographizing protests; in fact, I found Schwelder’s analysis of what audience a group’s performance of protesting was directed towards to be really provocative. It may not be for the sake of the government or the international audience, but could just be for other members of your own group. Further, she points out that protests in opposition to the state can still work to help the state, in the form of proving to an international audience the state’s commitment to ensuring and respecting personal freedoms.
I appreciate that this framework can help in analyzing protests on multiple scales, even globally, but I very much appreciated the introduction to Jordanian political history given the specific focus on Transjordanian protests. This also went to show how important historical context and respective collective memories are to understanding any form of resistance, be they contentious or not, big or small.
This is not to say that intent is not an important aspect of consideration in ethnographizing protests; in fact, I found Schwelder’s analysis of what audience a group’s performance of protesting was directed towards to be really provocative. It may not be for the sake of the government or the international audience, but could just be for other members of your own group. Further, she points out that protests in opposition to the state can still work to help the state, in the form of proving to an international audience the state’s commitment to ensuring and respecting personal freedoms.
I appreciate that this framework can help in analyzing protests on multiple scales, even globally, but I very much appreciated the introduction to Jordanian political history given the specific focus on Transjordanian protests. This also went to show how important historical context and respective collective memories are to understanding any form of resistance, be they contentious or not, big or small.
Displaying 1 of 1 review