The article revisits ‘sectarianism’ as an epistemic venue within the context of a Great
Civil War in the Middle East (2001-2021), a label that includes the overarching narratives of
political life in the aftermath of 9/11 up to the aftermath of the so-called ‘Arab Spring.’ By
introducing the notion of the ‘mythological machine,’ it ...
The article revisits ‘sectarianism’ as an epistemic venue within the context of a Great
Civil War in the Middle East (2001-2021), a label that includes the overarching narratives of
political life in the aftermath of 9/11 up to the aftermath of the so-called ‘Arab Spring.’ By
introducing the notion of the ‘mythological machine,’ it argues that ‘sectarianism’ is a myth,
something that does not exist in real terms, but which has real world effects. The mythological
machine is a device that produces epiphanies and myths; it is a gnoseological process, which
has cultural, social and political effects through the generation of mythological facts and, as a
machine, it does so through both guiding and automatized mechanisms. Through this
interpretive shift, the article proceeds through several theoretical steps using a variety of cases
from across West Asia and North Africa, contextualizing them within global political events.
Firstly, the article argues that it is ‘civil war,’ shaped by the work of the mythological machine
that governs state-society relations and transnational politics in the Middle East. Then, the
article discusses how the mythological machine incorporates a semantic othering via
mythological thinking, speak and practice that shapes the perception and experience of civil
wars. To conclude, the article discusses how the mythological machine displaces people’s status
in the context of civil wars leading to the emergence of new forms of belonging and nationmaking.
Ultimately, the mythological machine creates what Giorgio Agamben defines as a state
without people, a condition exhausting the value of citizenship and the political.
