2018 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Medusa's Gaze: The Politics and Aesthetics of Horror in the Age of Hyperviolence
| Project/Area Number |
17K18470
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| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University |
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Principal Investigator |
MANTELLO Peter・A 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 教授 (10454977)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | Terror / Sacrifice / Subjectivity / trans-individuation / extremism / networked identities / ISIS / Al Qaeda |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY2018, I was able to further my research by performing archival research at University of Toronto in the month of August. Then I attended the EISA (European International Studies Association) conference in September and presented a paper on Jihadist Media. This conference proved very interesting and allowed me not only to get valuable feedback on my research relating to the grant but also to expand my network base with scholars who are also studying in this field. Afterwards, I attended in early October a two day workshop in Mainz Germany on Jihadi audio-visualities. This workshop was extremely fruitful in terms of advancing my knowledge and understanding of the intersubjective relationship between media, new media and jihadi culture. Afterward, I did archival research during the month of November at the Czech National Technical Library in Prague. In March, I attended an exhibition surrounding various manifestations of death relating to the battlefield as well as had interviews with scholars on extremism as well as began co-writing a new article in relation to my research with Professor Douglas Ponton. Our current work in progress paper as related to security and media in terms of how concepts of terrorism are fuelling security rhetoric for the expansion of US military bases in both Italy and Japan. Our paper will examine the degree to which social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) has affected hard changes in US-base policy outcomes by influencing public opinion towards US bases, in two national contexts, those of Italy and Japan.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Progressing more smoothly as planned. My field activities, data collection and writing activities have been going mostly as expected. By the end of my research grant, I expect to publish one monograph and two publications (one of which is currently under review). This monograph examines how the weaponization of social media by Islamic militant organizations is constitutive of a radical subjectivity that is both enmity and alterity to Hardt and Negri’s ‘multitude’. Second, by framing hyper-connectivity as a preeminent form of biopower with thanatopolitical implication, it analyzes how this radical subjectivity is reconstituted through appropriation of corporate strategies originally meant to monitor/surveillance/track and harvest social productivity of the attention economy. While this appropriation of the captured ‘subject’ allow Islamic militant organizations to reformat collective memory by renovating ancient ideas and rituals of community building and political foundation, it also grants individuals agency to negotiate their degree of participation in demarcating political space. Third, it examines how participatory media furthers the construction of the jihadist imaginary by facilitating various feedback loops and interplay between the physical battlefield and its imagined/virtual counterpart (Hollywood films, videogames, and social media memes).
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The goal of this final year of my current research grant is to reexamine my field data and to finish both my articles and monograph (which is under contract with Taylor Francis). In order to do this, I will be spending much time referring back to both primary data sources as well as secondary data sources. Besides this I will conduct one last round of interviews in Europe, The US, Canada, and the Middle East. I would like to ensure that many of my assumptions are verifiable and in line with academics, policy people, analysts, and experts who are currently employed in the field of media communication. Moreover, I intend to relay my findings at several conferences. I have two papers that are already accepted at EISA 2019. One is entitled the In the 20th century, radio played a critical role during wartime. . For the purposes of this article, I refer specifically to the Canadian wartime radio series Afghanada (2006-2011). Although the show premiered amidst growing public opposition to the war, Afghanada became one of the longest running and arguably, most successful serialized audio dramas in Canadian history. Besides articulating Canada’s foreign policy shift away from global peacekeeping to imperial warfighting, I argue that Afghanada is a poignant example of how national myths and collective memory are resurrected and reformatted, in order to cultivate an aggressive political imaginary.
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| Causes of Carryover |
There were some cancellations to interviews in 2018 and I had limited time because of added, unexpected administrative duties at my workplace. The amount will be needed for the final year to complete field research activities vital to the completion of the parameters of my research grant.
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