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Affecting terrorism : laughter, lamentation and detestation as drives to terrorism knowledge
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Heath-Kelly, Charlotte and Jarvis, Lee (2017) Affecting terrorism : laughter, lamentation and detestation as drives to terrorism knowledge. International Political Sociology, 11 (3). pp. 239-256. doi:10.1093/ips/olx007 ISSN 1749-5679.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olx007
Abstract
The contemporary fascination with terrorism in Anglo-American popular culture, political discourse, news reportage and beyond is boundless and well-documented. In this article we explore contemporary productions of terrorism as the outcome of three drives to knowledge: laugher, lamentation and detestation. Drawing on a range of social and cultural practices – including jokes, street art, film, memorial projects, elite rhetoric and abuse scandals – we make two arguments. First, that humour, grief and hatred underpin and saturate the contemporary desire to know terrorism. And, second, that – although these drives function in multiple and ambiguous ways – they serve to institute a distance between the subject and object of terrorism knowledge, not least by encouraging us to laugh at those punished for terrorism, mourn for those lost in attacks, and direct our hatred toward those responsible. This analysis not only opens fresh insight on the workings of terrorism discourse in the post-9/11 period, it also points to connections between contemporary ‘critical’ work on terrorism and debate on the role of emotions and affect in international politics more broadly.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare J Political Science > JZ International relations |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Terrorism, Terrorism--Caricatures and cartoons, Terrorism--Humor, Terrorism in mass media, Political satire, Memorialization , Memorials, Laments | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | International Political Sociology | ||||||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1749-5679 | ||||||||
Official Date: | September 2017 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 11 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 239-256 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1093/ips/olx007 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 15 November 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 14 May 2019 | ||||||||
Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) | ||||||||
Grant number: | ES/N002407/1 |
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