Language Wars

The Role of Media and Culture in Global Terror and Political Violence

Jeff Lewis

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN:
  9780745324845
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781849644631
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Terrorism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Language Wars is a fascinating account of the relationship between the media, culture and new forms of global, political violence. Using an innovative approach, Jeff Lewis shows how language and the media are implicated in global terrorism and the US-led reprisals in the war on terror. Through an examination of the language of terrorism and war, Lewis illuminates key events in the current wave of political violence - the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Beslan siege, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bali bombings and the ongoing occupation in the Middle East. He argues that the language used to report incidents of violence has changed, not just in official channels but in wider cultural contexts, and shows the impact this has on social perceptions. Lewis deconstructs these new discourses to reveal how Islam has been construed as the antagonist of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Ideal for students of media studies and cultural studies, this is a subtle account of the relation between language and culture that exposes a dangerous new east-west divide in popular discourse.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Mediated Terror and the Politics of Representation
• 2 Conflict and Culture: Civilization, History, Identity
• 3 The Meaning of 9/ 11: In the Midst of Infi nite Justice
• 4 The Iraq Invasion: Democracy in the Field of Battle
• 5 Globalizing Jihad: The Bali Bombings at the End of Paradise
• 6 The Occupation of Iraq: Rule of Law and the New Public Sphere
• Conclusion: Cultural Democracy, Difference and the End of Civilization
• References
• Index