Trauma, Myth, and Politics: Islamic Fundamentalism as Retrotopian Populism

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

10.22081/jips.2025.70990.1072

Abstract

While the politics of violence in Islamic fundamentalism has caught many eyes and hearts, there has been a void in the analysis of its populist dimension. A potentially insightful perspective might be to focus on the connection between the rise of reactionary mass movements and the effects of theories and practices of modernization. What connections does radical religious populism have with experiences of modernization?
The paper hypothesizes that the evolution of fundamentalist ideology and movement
can be narrated as the unfolding of constant, triangular interaction among collective
trauma resulting from community dislocation, mythical meaning-making, and mobilizing populism. Built on a combinative framework derived from Arendt's conception of mass society and Cassirer, as well as Barthes's conceptualizations of mythical thinking, this paper explores the interconnection of the discontents of modernity, the rise of mythical political worldviews, and politics as a mission for community building. In this vein, the paper highlights the relation between the mythical reduction of sharia, the fantasy of “the pure society,” and the constructive function of sacred violence in Islamic fundamentalism, focusing on Jihadi Salafism. Lastly, within a comparative framework, the paper argues that politics of violence in Islamic fundamentalism as religious populism is less derived from Islam than a specific narrative of truth (in mythical political worldview) that can also be viewed in other modern ideologies such as fascism and communism; a narrative which has a considerable connection with discontents of modernity.

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References

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Journal of Islamic Political Studies
Volume 7, Issue 1
January 2025
Pages 101-120

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