Thingifying Neda: The Construction of Commemorative and Affective Thingifications of Neda Agda Soltan

• Main Author: Carsten Stage
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Linköping University Electronic Press 2011-10-01
• Series: Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research
• Subjects: Neda Agda Soltan; Iran; thingification; participatory culture; transposition; image-object
• Online Access: https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1985

The article investigates how the participatory creation of global interest in the shooting of Neda Agda Soltan was not only influenced by the online dissemination of texts and images, but also by the construction of things or “image-objects”. By analyzing three specific cases that turn images of Neda into material objects I argue that the cultural role of these “thingifications” is to enable 1) the opening of the present towards a specific historic event, 2) the sharing of affect and 3) the articulation of specific political interpretations of Neda and the Iranian regime. The objects are thus oriented both towards the past by pointing at the importance of the shooting, but also aim to facilitate relationships in the present and future that may use the event to build more just and politically righteous communities.