Islamism Revisited: A Lacanian Discourse Critique

This article argues for the relevance of Lacanian psychoanalysis to understanding the discursive-ideological complexity of Islamism. Responding to Fethi Benslama's account of the function of the father in Islam, it challenges his reading of Islamism as "delusional" and his link between its emergence and the crisis of "traditional" authority, contending that both risk lapsing into essentialism. An alternative reading is proposed, one that foregrounds the "creative" work of Islamist groups in reorganising the social imaginary within a symbolic economy, positivising the desedimenting effects of the real. Through the notions of capitonnage, fantasy, desire, and jouissance, the article traces how Islamist trajectories diverge into distinct discursive formations, disclosing the psychoanalytic significance of Islam as a master signifier.