Abstract
Erving Goffman writes in "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life," "...when an individual appears before others his actions will influence the definition of the situation which they come to have (1959: 6)." Guided by Goffman and Hannah Arendt ("The Human Condition," 1958) this paper explores the appearance and reality of Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hizballah. In it, I investigate how Nasrallah makes victory appear---thereby constructing it as real---through his political speeches and public appearances by presenting his own definition of the situation: a Lebanese victory.
One such victory came on July 16th, 2008 with the release of Samir Quntar by the Israelis in a prisoner exchange. Through an analysis of Nasrallah's speech for the occasion, I will argue that Nasrallah was successful in presenting a new definition of the situation, one that defined both the July War in 2006 and the prisoner exchange as Hizballah-Lebanese victories. This paper, then, encompasses an investigation of Arabic political speech and the linguistic strategies used by Nasrallah, the physical appearance of Nasrallah and the released prisoners, Nasrallah's use of the stage and live broadcast, martyrs and martyrdom, and the intersection of the religion, media and (trans)nationalism.
As put forward by Nasrallah, this definition of the situation would help Hizballah gain political legitimacy in Lebanon and secure wider support and subsequent victories over its political rivals and primary regional nemesis---Israel. To supplement my analysis, I will also explore reactions to the prisoner exchange and representations of Hizballah and Nasrallah in the Israeli media, as well as on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' channel on Youtube.com.
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