Halaqas, relational subjects, and revolutionary committees in Syria

• Published in: Focaal Vol. 2021; no. 91; pp. 50 - 66
• Main Author: Al-Khalili, Charlotte
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brooklyn Berghahn Books, Inc 01.12.2021
• Subjects: Civil service; Committees; Ethnography; Political aspects; Politics; Religion; Religious aspects; Religious cultural groups; Religious gatherings; Revolutions; Scalarity (Semantics); Society; Students; Study abroad; Teachers; Transformation; Syria

Through an ethnographic account of Syrian halaqas (Sunni religious circles) from the 1980s until the 2011 Syrian revolution, this article argues that halaqas have a revolutionary potential. The analysis demonstrates that Syrian religious circles are spaces of self-transformation that have heterotopi...