Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Discourses of counter-Islamic-threat mobilization in post 9/11 documentaries

Mylonas, Yiannis LU (2012) In Journal of Language and Politics 11(3). p.405-426
Abstract
This article critically studies documentaries focusing on the "Islamic terrorist threat", produced in the US and in Western Europe. The particular films relate to the discourses of the growing far right political movements in liberal democracies. The article analyzes the communicational tactics deployed by the filmmakers for counter-terrorist mobilization of "Westerners". The films' producers objectify the terrorist threat as exceptional and ontological, in order to reconfigure the identity of the "West". The analysis focuses on representations of the West's threatening Other through the reflexive use of critical discourse analysis and post structuralist, discourse theory. Counter-threat strategies, varying from warfare to biopolitical... (More)
This article critically studies documentaries focusing on the "Islamic terrorist threat", produced in the US and in Western Europe. The particular films relate to the discourses of the growing far right political movements in liberal democracies. The article analyzes the communicational tactics deployed by the filmmakers for counter-terrorist mobilization of "Westerners". The films' producers objectify the terrorist threat as exceptional and ontological, in order to reconfigure the identity of the "West". The analysis focuses on representations of the West's threatening Other through the reflexive use of critical discourse analysis and post structuralist, discourse theory. Counter-threat strategies, varying from warfare to biopolitical control, are articulated as social demands and as individualized tasks of inclusion to the ideological space of the West and the sovereign space of western nation states. The critical study of the particular documentaries aims at highlighting the regressive and character of the passionate discourses of far right media, in relation to the political crisis that liberal democracies across the world are facing. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
documentary, far right, war on terror, identity, politics, discourse, biopolitics
in
Journal of Language and Politics
volume
11
issue
3
pages
405 - 426
publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
external identifiers
  • wos:000311938000005
  • scopus:84866851854
ISSN
1569-9862
DOI
10.1075/jlp.11.3.05myl
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b71726d2-fe56-4167-a51f-7ae27cbacbe3 (old id 3379327)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:54:33
date last changed
2022-01-26 03:40:16
@article{b71726d2-fe56-4167-a51f-7ae27cbacbe3,
  abstract     = {{This article critically studies documentaries focusing on the "Islamic terrorist threat", produced in the US and in Western Europe. The particular films relate to the discourses of the growing far right political movements in liberal democracies. The article analyzes the communicational tactics deployed by the filmmakers for counter-terrorist mobilization of "Westerners". The films' producers objectify the terrorist threat as exceptional and ontological, in order to reconfigure the identity of the "West". The analysis focuses on representations of the West's threatening Other through the reflexive use of critical discourse analysis and post structuralist, discourse theory. Counter-threat strategies, varying from warfare to biopolitical control, are articulated as social demands and as individualized tasks of inclusion to the ideological space of the West and the sovereign space of western nation states. The critical study of the particular documentaries aims at highlighting the regressive and character of the passionate discourses of far right media, in relation to the political crisis that liberal democracies across the world are facing.}},
  author       = {{Mylonas, Yiannis}},
  issn         = {{1569-9862}},
  keywords     = {{documentary; far right; war on terror; identity; politics; discourse; biopolitics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{405--426}},
  publisher    = {{John Benjamins Publishing Company}},
  series       = {{Journal of Language and Politics}},
  title        = {{Discourses of counter-Islamic-threat mobilization in post 9/11 documentaries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jlp.11.3.05myl}},
  doi          = {{10.1075/jlp.11.3.05myl}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}