Crisis, Command, and Legitimacy: Sovereignty and the State of Exception in Feryal Ali Gauhar's an Abundance of Wild Roses
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Drawing on Carl Schmitt’s concept of sovereignty and the state of exception, this study examines how Feryal Ali Gauhar’s An Abundance of Wild Roses represents authority, legitimacy, and decision-making in moments of crisis. Existing scholarship has largely approached the novel through ecofeminist, trauma, feminist, and posthumanist perspectives; however, limited attention has been paid to how exceptional situations produce legitimacy through sovereign acts of decision. Addressing this gap, the study conducts a close textual analysis of selected crisis scenes, including the arrival of the wounded stranger, the confinement of Sabiha, natural calamity, blocked roads, and the appearance of dead bodies. The study argues that the novel constructs sovereignty through figures capable of defining, interpreting, and managing exceptional situations, thereby transforming disruption into social order. It concludes that social and legal legitimacy in the narrative depends less on stable rules and traditional norms than on the authority of the decision-maker whose commands organize communal response when ordinary structures fail.
Institutions: University of Okara, University of Education
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7165665706
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