Ms. Noor Suwwan

University of Chicago

Bio

Through a comparative study of the organizational discourse of two emotion congregations, namely the Ḥajj and the ʿArbaʿīn, this paper demonstrates the extent to which the emergence of the modern state and the modern state-system impose a need for sharp reconsiderations to the historic role of emotions in IR.

Emotions vs. the Modern State-System: How the emergence of the modern state system influences the historical role of emotions in international relations

Abstract

Through a comparative study of the organizational discourse of two emotion congregations, namely the Ḥajj and the ʿArbaʿīn, it aims to demonstrate how pressures of “legibility” open new possibility spaces for emotions while foreclosing others. It concludes that “systematic” factors structure emotion congregations differently, normatively ranking their positionalities, which in turn, enables emotion congregations to constitute an unexpected avenue for reconstructing, hedging or deconstructing their own positionalities in the world system.