Introduction: Myths, Performatives, Performances and Performers
How to Do Things with Myths - A Performative Theory of Myths and How We Got There - Ivan Strenski
Ivan Strenski [+]
University of California Riverside (retired)
Author of 15 books and more than 100 academic articles on religion and political issues
like gift, sacrifice, freedom of religion/religious freedom, religious nationalism, French
Catholic integralism, post-revolutionary French Jewry, divine right of kings, Ivan Strenski
is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California,
Riverside. His most recent books are Muslims, Islams, and Occidental Anxieties:
Conversations about Islamophobia (2022), a history of the study of religion from the
Renaissance to the present-day, Understanding Theories of Religion (2014) and Why Politics Can’t Be Freed from Religion: Radical Interrogations of Religion, Power and Politics (2009), Arabic translation (2016).
Description
What is a “performative” concept and theory of myth, and why should it be recommended? As philosophers speak of speech ‘acts,” myths often “act” -- they “do” things in culture, rather than being static narratives of events. Myths “perform” prominently these days in contemporary politics. There, myths compete with historical accounts to justify the legitimacy of political regimes, territorial claims, rights to rule and so on. Myths, then, often play major roles in political cultures that, in turn, shape policy.