This dissertation excavates the multifaceted intricacies surrounding the socioeconomic transformations of southeastern Syria, which subsequently was named Transjordan, from the late Ottoman period (circa 1840s) to the 1930s. Through a rigorous engagement with Marxism, postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis, gender and queer theor(y/ies), and studies of “economic theology,” it reinterprets capital, not as a thing or as an illusion, but as the performative effect of the capitalization of networks of knowledge-power, or, in other words, as an intersubjectively (i.e., ideologically) agreed upon symbolization of the power relations that enable the bringing of future revenue into the present.The dissertation unfolds in three parts. The inaugural section, “Deconstructing Fantasies; (Re)Conceptualizing Capital,” problematizes foundational economic theories, scrutinizes capital’s ontological and theological underpinnings, and juxtaposes capitalization to sharīʿa’s moral cosmology. In doing so, it destabilizes conventional dichotomies between the economic and the political, probing deeply into capitalization’s metaphysical affinities with the metaphysics of modernity.
The second part, “Explicating Capitalification,” foregrounds the structural transformations of the Ottoman Empire, dissecting its evolution in response to capitalistic imperatives. The narrative delves into the moral cosmologies that underpinned the Empire’s existence and the subsequent structural transformation of the empire, focusing particularly on fiscal centralization, the interplay of debt and power, and technologies of capitalification. This section interrogates the
Ottoman Empire’s projects in southeastern Syria, excavating its endeavors in controlling the Bedouin, the implementation of education policies, and its intricate land codes and registration policies.
In the third and final part, “Post-Ottoman Legacies,” the narrative transitions to spotlighting the residual colonial imprints on Transjordan’s emergent state structures and its intricate class formations. This part of the exploration takes a critical view of the Jordanian state’s production as an effect through colonizing mechanisms, mechanisms of colonization that limited production, and the performative aspects of class as an effect of citational practices. By focusing on different stratifications such as shaykhs, soldiers, and workers, this section demystifies the intricacies of class within the Transjordanian context, particularly in relation to the capitalization of land and debt-induced expropriation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/ez6r-tb30 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | AlSheikh Theeb, Thaer |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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