Language wars : the role of media and culture in global terror and political violence / Jeff Lewis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lewis, Jeff, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mass media and language.

Mass media and culture.

Mass media and public opinion.

Terrorism and mass media.

Violence in mass media.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (296 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Ann Arbor, Mich. : Pluto Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Language Wars is a fascinating account of the relationship between the media, culture and new forms of global, political violence. Using an innovative approach, Jeff Lewis shows how language and the media are implicated in global terrorism and the US-led reprisals in the war on terror. Through an examination of the language of terrorism and war, Lewis illuminates key events in the current wave of political violence -- the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Beslan siege, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bali bombings and the ongoing occupation in the Middle East. He argues that the language used to report incidents of violence has changed, not just in official channels but in wider cultural contexts, and shows the impact this has on social perceptions. Lewis deconstructs these new discourses to reveal how Islam has been construed as the antagonist of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Ideal for students of media studies and cultural studies, this is a subtle account of the relation between language and culture that exposes a dangerous new east-west divide in popular discourse.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Introduction

Terrorism and Language Wars

The Mediation of Terror

Culture and the Political Signifier

Cultural Politics and Globalization

Government, Democracy and the Mediasphere

Structure and Methods

Key Concepts

1 Mediated Terror and the Politics of Representation

Terror

Televisual Media and the Broadcast of Violence

Representation and Violence

The First Casualty: War and Truth

Conclusions

2 Conflict and Culture: Civilization, History, Identity

Culture and Islam

The Clash of Civilizations Thesis

The Media and Cultural Division

Division and Identity Politics

History and the Roots of Islam

Modernization and Civil Society in the Middle East

Palestine and the 'Jewish Question'

The Body Politic: Interface with Globalization

Interdependence and the Formation of the Cultural Divide

3 The Meaning of 9/ 11: In the Midst of Infi nite Justice

Meaning and the Aesthetics of Terror

Divine Justice: Global Order

Citizens, Consensus and Dissent

Hero - Victims

Public Opinion and the Not- Quite- Real

The Meaning of America and the Twin Towers

Freedom

Surveillance and Control

4 The Iraq Invasion: Democracy in the Field of Battle

The Purposes of War

From Freedom to Democracy

Coalitions of the Killing

Democracy in the Age of Terror

The Electronic Polis

Bomb the World

In Bed with al- Qa'ida

Al- Jazeera and the Alternative Media

5 Globalizing Jihad: The Bali Bombings at the End of Paradise

October 12 and Global Jihad

Jamaah Islamiyah

Paradise Defi led

Clash of Imaginings: Global and National Context

The Crisis of Contiguity

The Bombings: Media and Political Discourses

The Blind Puppeteer: Atrocity and Civil Society in Indonesia.

Development and Recovery in Bali

6 The Occupation of Iraq: Rule of Law and the New Public Sphere

Resolution

The First Casualty: David Kelly and Trial by Ordeal

The New Iraq

Privatization and Occupation

Ordeal and Execution

Al- Jazeera and the Rule of Law

Images of Violence: Photographs and the Transformative Public Sphere

Ordeals at Abu Ghraib

The Body Politic and Abu Ghraib

Theatre of War

Conclusion: Cultural Democracy, Difference and the End of Civilization

Language Wars Here and Over There

Democracy and Global Culture

The Hijab and Global Politics

World Government: Beware the Faithful

References

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786611750947

9781849644631

1849644632

9781281750945

1281750948

9781435662643

1435662644

OCLC:

666933170