124264 KO Critical Media Analysis (2016W)

Terrorists seek extensive media attention to create an atmosphere of fear, legitimize violent actions, and reach greater audiences for recruitment. To provide students with an understanding of the nexus of extremism and the media from a Cultural Studies perspective, this course mainly refers to the work of Aslam Maleeha, Michael Kimmel and Douglas Kellner, introducing the concepts of male identity politics / crisis of masculinity as key ideological resources for radicalization in a globally mediated world. Both ethnic nationalism and religious fundamentalism have lately seen a dramatic rise. 9/11, the Breivik massacre and the Paris attacks equally inscribed the vision of terror in our collective memory and turned everyday-life into a permanent state of existential uncertainty where civilization may be confronted with destruction at any place and at any time. What these spectacles of violence have in common, so Douglas Kellner, is a case-specific crisis of masculinity fueled by available discourses of hate. As such, it is resolved through male rage exploding into acts of terror that give perpetrators the illusion of a powerful hyper-male identity and the fantasy of being part of a greater cause. From this perspective, masculine resentment of socio-economic and cultural displacement functions as a chief organizing principle of extremist groups of the far right and also of the militant fundamentalist side, effectively and equally framing ideologically conflicting notions of 'white pride' and 'fanatic martyrdom' as supposedly manly and heroic. This course takes these issues as a starting point and investigates how various narratives of masculinity are played out in media (self) representations of extremist groups from around the world. The course is aimed at both BA students and teacher trainees. It is designed to help participants develop both a theoretical understanding and practical skills to critically analyze media contents in terms of the intersection of discourse, power and identity with regard to the given topic.