Why Symbols Matter: The Symbolic Vocabulary of Political Islam

The paper argues that symbols matter. It does so by looking empirically at the symbolic vocabulary of political Islam and Islamic terrorism. The paper builds on four interlocking arguments and themes: (a) that the symbolic vocabulary of political Islam forms a family of symbols including the Muhammad Cartoons, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and Charlie Hebdo; (b) that these symbols are related to each other in a dialectical and co-productive manner; (c) that they are contested symbols with different meanings for different audiences; and (d) that they serve as both resources and outcomes in political Islamist activism. It is in this latter capacity that we may understand how and why symbols matter. The paper’s framework is modeled over Durkheim’s work in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Building on this work, the paper argues that the injustice symbols of political Islam form the ideational infrastructure of a global grievance community.