Open AccessThingifying Neda: The Construction of Commemorative and Affective Thingifications of Neda Agda Soltan
Author(s) -
Carsten Stage
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
culture unbound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2000-1525
DOI - 10.3384/cu.2000.1525.113419
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , event (particle physics) , articulation (sociology) , computer science , citizen journalism , politics , aesthetics , sociology , political science , world wide web , art , law , communication , physics , quantum mechanics
The article investigates how the participatory creation of global interest in the shooting of Neda Agda Soltan was not only influenced by the online dissemination of texts and images, but also by the construction of things or “image-objects”. By analyzing three specific cases that turn images of Neda into material objects I argue that the cultural role of these “thingifications” is to enable 1) the opening of the present towards a specific historic event, 2) the sharing of affect and 3) the articulation of specific political interpretations of Neda and the Iranian regime. The objects are thus oriented both towards the past by pointing at the importance of the shooting, but also aim to facilitate relationships in the present and future that may use the event to build more just and politically righteous communities