On Beheading
Intro -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Why a Book on This Topic? -- A Thing or Two about the Meaning and Origin -- A Contemporary Trend -- Style and Method -- The Chapter Scheme -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 2: The Othering -- The Basis -- The Self and the Other -- Otherling as a Construction -- Threat Perception and In-Group Consolidation -- The Nature of the Political -- The Spectre of Religion -- Eternal Othering -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3: Severing Sovereignty -- The Offending Head! -- Islamic State and the Revenge of Sovereignty -- Severing the Sovereign Through Cunning -- Displaying the Severed Sovereignty -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 4: Soliciting the Sacred -- Beheading and the Islamic Tradition -- Decapitation and Martyrdom -- Meriah -- Decapitating the Evil -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 5: Penality -- Why Punish -- Evolution of Beheading in Jurisprudence -- Extremist Islamic Jurisprudence and Beheading -- The "Decapitating State" -- Cruelty by Some Other Name -- Decapitation as Deterrence -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 6: The Machinery -- The Weapon -- The Weapon of the Divine -- Moving Toward Mechanization -- Democratizing Decapitation -- Making Violence Mainstream -- Critiquing the Regicidal Blade -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 7: The Executioner's Heart -- Toward a Typology of Executioners -- A Pariah and a Patron -- Between Professionals and Amateurs -- On Balance -- The Anonymity Seekers -- The Communion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 8: Performing Violence -- Performativity -- Medium Is the Message -- A Special Kind of Violence! -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 9: Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Bibliography -- Index.