ISIS, Heritage, and the Spectacles of Destruction in the Global Media

Harmanşah, Ömür

doi:10.5615/neareastarch.78.3.0170

Cited by 95 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Damage to heritage monuments, both deliberate and inadvertent, has been a frequent aspect of armed conflict throughout history [1]. However, recent examples of cultural destruction, such as the demolition of archaeological sites by the Islamic State armed group using explosives [2] and the breaching of the old city walls of Raqqa by coalition airstrikes [3], have brought the issue to prominence in public discourse. Constant improvement in firearms technology means that infantry small arms now also present a significant threat to built heritage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permeability and Surface Hardness Surveying of Stone Damaged by Ballistic Impact

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent instances of the destruction of cultural assets in conflict zones have demonstrated the need to develop methods which will allow for the assessment of damage to heritage stone in the field. In particular, non-destructive methods would be invaluable when working on sites damaged by contemporary ballistics. Permeability (TinyPerm 3) and surface hardness (Equotip) surveys of stone damaged by 7.62 × 39 mm (AK-47) projectiles were undertaken to determine the ability of these methods to identify the spatial distribution of damage patterns such as shear faces and surface fractures. Results demonstrate the ability of surface hardness surveys to distinguish between non-impacted surfaces of the target stone and surfaces which shattered/sheared upon impact. Whilst spatial distribution analysis (“heat mapping”) of Equotip data did not correlate directly with surface fractures, permeability data heat maps were found to be indicative of surface fracture distribution. The data suggests that compaction of the stone matrix at the impact crater results in a lesser reduction of hardness in this area relative to the wider damaged surface. Surveys of impacted stone using the methods outlined here can identify damage patterns that are not visible to the naked eye, thus aiding in damage identification on fragile sites.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permeability and Surface Hardness Surveying of Stone Damaged by Ballistic Impact

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This claimed antagonistic relationship with the media establishment is an important component to much mediated populism. And as the online communicative tactics of ISIS show (Harmanşah, 2015), ease of access to Twitter is in keeping with the enactment of even a grotesque mutation of outsider politics. Returning to the example of Trump, the range of his populist vitriol extends to this "mainstream media", which his rhetoric holds accountable for the production of "fake news".…”

Section: The Populism Of Twittermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, much research has explored the extent to which the imperatives of the communications industry exercise a "mediatising" influence on political actors and institutions, where "media logics" become a negotiated component of the grammar of everyday political activity (Esser and Strömbäck, 2014;Higgins, 2018). Beyond even the democratic institutions of the West, this compulsion towards media spectacle extends to the purposivelymediated atrocities of terror groups such as ISIS (Harmanşah, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediated populism, culture and media form

Higgins

2017

Palgrave Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This comment seeks to identify some key concerns in the study of mediated populism. The paper highlights the relationship between populism and political conditions, noting that the weak party structures and non-conventional party-media relations that characterise populist actors applies across the political left and right, who engage strategically according to media conditions. In setting out the terms in which mediated populism operates, the paper stresses the turn to emotionality in media, with a particular prominence on the expression of aggressiveness. It links with the rise of participatory media, with an attendant shift in the style and form of language to characterise political discussion and influences on legitimate political speech. The paper then looks at the use of "fake news" as a means of positioning media within the discredited elite, warranting the easy dismissal of hostile content. While showing how the political and media environment provides fertile grounds for populism, and the extent to which populism is encouraged by media affordances, the article concludes by recommending the purposeful cultivation by media of alternative and proactive forms of inclusion and emotional engagement.

show abstract

“…4 Yet, both IS and mainstream Western media have directed their attention to the intentional acts of destruction of pre-Islamic antiquities. I call these 'spectacles' because mediation and re-mediation, or the 'production of the show' (Harmanşah 2015), are key to how these acts are produced and circulated, their images propelled by social media and global outrage, and to how they produce effects too. These acts were committed in order for their images to be virally circulated, as shown by the various IS men caught photographing and filming their fellow militants at work with sledgehammers in the famous video of the destruction of statues at the Mosul Museum.…”

Section: Archaeologies Of Political Violence and Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, I offer here a different reading that highlights the long-standing link between archaeology and (empire and) state building in the Levant. I argue that we cannot understand IS 'spectacles' of destruction (Harmanşah 2015) without unravelling Near Eastern archaeology's deep entanglement with both the history of Western colonial and neocolonial interventions in Iraq and Syria and the political projects of the local variants of Arab nationalism that in several ways (including the cult and use of archaeology) reproduced the colonial legacy (see Massad 2001). I argue that in spite of the apparent break represented by IS acts, there is a continuity running through the history of Iraq (and Syria, although to a slightly lesser extent) in the political mobilization of antiquities, which have been used for the symbolic display and the enactment of state power long before this past year.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

POST‐COLONIAL RUINS: Archaeologies of political violence and IS

Cesari

2015

Anthropology Today

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The carefully staged and hyper‐mediated destructions at a number of world‐famous archaeological sites in the area controlled by the Islamic State across Syria and Iraq have often made the headlines in recent months; and these spectacles can be counted among IS' visual markers of identity. In the mainstream media, they have largely been interpreted either as ‘cultural cleansing’ or as an expression of IS' inhumanity, of its barbaric iconoclasm and its criminal fight against idolatry. In this paper, I propose to interpret them as overdetermined acts or rather spectacles of destruction that must be situated within a specific political genealogy. I highlight the long‐standing, deep entanglement between archaeology and (empire and) state building in the Levant.

show abstract

ISIS, Heritage, and the Spectacles of Destruction in the Global Media

Abstract: Truth is image, but there is no image of truth.

Cited by 95 publications

References 2 publications

Permeability and Surface Hardness Surveying of Stone Damaged by Ballistic Impact

Permeability and Surface Hardness Surveying of Stone Damaged by Ballistic Impact

Mediated populism, culture and media form

POST‐COLONIAL RUINS: Archaeologies of political violence and IS

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About