Violence And War In Culture And The Media

This edited volume examines theoretical and empirical issues relating to violence and war and its implications for media, culture and society. Over the last two decades there has been a proliferation of books, films and art on the subject of violence and war. However, this is the first volume that offers a varied analysis which has wider implications for several disciplines, thus providing the reader with a text that is both multi-faceted and accessible. This book introduces the current debates surrounding this topic through five particular lenses: the historical involves an examination of historical patterns of the communication of violence and war through a variety sources the cultural utilises the cultural studies perspective to engage with issues of violence, visibility and spectatorship the sociological focuses on how terrorism, violence and war are remembered and negotiated in the public sphere the political offers an exploration into the politics of assigning blame for war, the influence of psychology on media actors, and new media political communication issues in relation to the state and the media the gender-studies perspective provides an analysis of violence and war from a gender studies viewpoint. Violence and War in Culture and the Media will be of much interest to students of war and conflict studies, media and communications studies, sociology, security studies and political science.

Savage wars in Bosnia, Rwanda, Liberia, Iraq and many other places continue to fill our television screens and newspapers with terrible images of conflict. Despite the optimism about world peace, brought about by the collapse of super-power hostilities in the early 1990s, we seem to be encountering more wars, or at least wars that are more socially traumatic. All too often, the media suggest that these conflicts are caused by the return of primordial loyalties and hatreds after the collapse of the Cold War, or that mass slaughter can be explained by reference to the inherently evil nature of individuals or groups. This book counters this kind of nonsense, and asks why such views have gained a currency. It examines the role of the media in inciting conflicts within nations, as well as the adverse impacts of news reporting on international perceptions - and on policy-making. But it also reveals how valuable informed journalism can be. Above all, it highlights the dangers of basing analysis on vague assertions about deep human motivation, or on mythologies of the past and the present promoted by the protagonists themselves.

The prison writings of Kurdish freedom fighter and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan

The trinity of government, military and publics has been drawn together into immediate and unpredictable relationships in a "new media ecology" that has ushered in new asymmetries in the waging of war and terror. To help us understand these new relationships, Andrew Hoskins and Ben O'Loughlin here provide a timely, comprehensive and highly readable survey of the field of war and media. War is diffused through a complex mesh of our everyday media. Paradoxically, this both facilitates and contains the presence and power of enemies near and far. The conventions of so-called traditional warfare have been splintered by the availability and connectivity of the principal locus of war today: the electronic and digital media. Hoskins and O'Loughlin identify and illuminate the conditions of what they term "diffused war" and the new challenges it raises for the actors who wage and counter warfare, for their agents and mechanisms of the new media and for mass publics. This book offers an invaluable review of the key literature and presents a fresh approach to the understanding of the dynamic relationships between war and media. It will be welcomed by a broad range of students taking courses on war and media and related modules, especially in media, communication and cultural studies, politics and international relations, sociology, journalism, and security studies.

Considers how people have confronted, challenged, and resisted remote warfare Drone warfare is now a routine, if not predominant, aspect of military engagement. Although this method of delivering violence at a distance has been a part of military arsenals for two decades, scholarly debate on remote warfare writ large has remained stuck in tired debates about practicality, efficacy, and ethics. Remote Warfare broadens the conversation, interrogating the cultural and political dimensions of distant warfare and examining how various stakeholders have responded to the reality of state-sponsored remote violence. The essays here represent a panoply of viewpoints, revealing overlooked histories of remoteness, novel methodologies, and new intellectual challenges. From the story arc of Homeland to redefining the idea of a “warrior,” these thirteen pieces consider the new nature of surveillance, similarities between killing with drones and gaming, literature written by veterans, and much more. Timely and provocative, Remote Warfare makes significant and lasting contributions to our understanding of drones and the cultural forces that shape and sustain them. Contributors: Syed Irfan Ashraf, U of Peshawar, Pakistan; Jens Borrebye Bjering, U of Southern Denmark; Annika Brunck, U of Tübingen; David A. Buchanan, U.S. Air Force Academy; Owen Coggins, Open U; Andreas Immanuel Graae, U of Southern Denmark; Brittany Hirth, Dickinson State U; Tim Jelfs, U of Groningen; Ann-Katrine S. Nielsen, Aarhus U; Nike Nivar Ortiz, U of Southern California; Michael Richardson, U of New South Wales; Kristin Shamas, U of Oklahoma; Sajdeep Soomal; Michael Zeitlin, U of British Columbia.

`No book is more timely than this collection, which analyses brilliantly the Western media's relentless absorption into the designs of dominant, rapacious power' - John Pilger This book examines the changing contours of media coverage of war and considers the relationship between mass media and governments in wartime.

Roach provides an excellent account of the contributions of feminist peace researchers to the analysis of cultural militarism and its twin, cultural violence against women. Altogether, this book is a worthy enterprise that will help both activists and scholars gain a more in-depth understanding of the barriers to change errected by the media′s use of information technology, and will be useful in developing scenarios and strategies for the creative use of that technology for peaceful social transformation. --Elise Boulding in Media Development Does the media have a perverse fascination with war and violence? Do television, newspapers, and magazines neglect the forces of peace in favor of the more dramatic war machines, thereby amplifying the guns rather than muting them? If so, how does media coverage reflect the culture for which it works? By exploring the role of both culture and mass media, this volume fills a crucial void in the study of war and peace. Outstanding scholars provide a history and overview of critical mass media research and investigate emerging issues dealing with the ongoing debate over communication in war and peace. Several chapters deal specifically with the role of communication culture in the Gulf War, while others discuss more general themes, including the military/industrial/communication complex, cultural imperialism, and transnational control of communication. Many of the essays offer a uniquely feminist reading of war and peace, a perspective typically unacknowledged in mainstream communication work. This timely book also weaves peripheral concerns like multiculturalism, international communication law, women and peace, and communication technology into the primary themes of media and war. The research and practical information given here will be useful for courses in peace and conflict studies, international mass communication, and intercultural communication. Professionals in international relations, negotiations, and the media will find this book to be both fascinating and illuminating. "Original research on the coverage of disarmament stories and peace issues in Canadian dailies and Vincent Mosco′s excellent blueprint for converting the military machine to a peace system give Roach′s work practical and positive dimensions. Abstracts at the beginning of the chapters, full bibliographies, and a preface by the ′father′ of peace studies, Johan Galtung, add to the importance of this book. Recommended for anyone interested in the use/minuses of mass media to cover up/explain/promote governmental efforts to keep situations tense and warlike." --Choice "Communication and Culture in War and Peace provides a strategic road map for scholarly and citizen action. This is tightly edited, passionately--and convincingly--argued, and a broadly conceived book. It fills a large gap and is likely to be a widely used seminal resource and text for some time to come." --George Gerbner, Professor of Communication and Dean Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

Theorising Media and Conflict brings together anthropologists as well as media and communication scholars to collectively address the elusive and complex relationship between media and conflict. Through epistemological and methodological reflections and the analyses of various case studies from around the globe, this volume provides evidence for the co-constitutiveness of media and conflict and contributes to their consolidation as a distinct area of scholarship. Practitioners, policymakers, students and scholars who wish to understand the lived realities and dynamics of contemporary conflicts will find this book invaluable.