Power and Identity in the Discourse of Jihad

Abstract

The recent rise of religious militancy in Muslim countries has been explained either in theological idiom or as an offshoot of national, regional, and international geopolitics. However, such analyses have often ignored micro-level actors in Jihadi ventures, leaving the breeding grounds at the grassroots unexplored. The meta-narratives articulated by these actors have privileged traditional hegemony at the cost of the social, which is complex. This article explores the dynamics of power and identity in the context of Jihad at the level of the individual, family, and Jihadi organizations, focusing on the participation of Pakistani civilians in cross-border violent conflicts in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Applying Foucault's concept ofpower as the framework for analysis, this article demonstrates that the desire to exercise power, rather than any commitment to some divine project, is the major reason behind decisions to join Jihadi organizations. Identities based on gender, age, class. education, social status, and ethnicity were employed as instruments in the theater of power. In a complex process. multiple factors brought indi viduals into the ambit of Jihadi organizations to undertake violent actions.