Travelling Artefacts: The Role of Recognition, Belongings and Acts of Resistance

Abstract

This paper, by using manga comics and the veil as examples, argues that increased scholarly attention to artifacts involved in political struggles could add new insights to previous research on resistance and social change. The paper examines how the recognition of artifacts is entwined with different expressions and techniques of power and resistance. These artifacts, which are recognizable around the globe, acquire different meanings and become part of (or are excluded from) particular political struggles and communities of belonging, both transnationally and locally. Power and political struggles are both interwoven with material contexts and sometimes revolve around different artifacts. Artifacts become affective parts of resistance and mobilize people into assuming or rejecting communities, identity positions, or subjectivities. The shifting discursive materialities of different artifacts make these items transformative and important factors in political struggles.