Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan Book

This book analyzes how modern Jordanian identity was created and defined. Massad studies two key institutions, the law and the military, and uses them to create an original and precise analysis of the development of Jordanian national identity in the postcolonial period. The author engages recent scholarly debates on nationalism and richly fulfills the analytical promise of Michel Foucault´s insight that modern institutions of power have productive, not merely repressive or coercive, capacities -though Massad also stresses their continued repressive function. The argument is advanced by a consideration of evidence, including images produced by state tourist agencies aimed at attracting Western visitors, the changing and precarious position of women in the newly constructed national space, and such practices as soccer games, music, songs, food, clothing, and shifting accents and dialects.