Theorising Media and Conflict
New York; Oxford: Berghahn (2020), x, 339 pp.
Contains index
Series: Anthropology of Media, 10
ISBN 978-1-80073-648-1 (pbk); 978-1-78920-683-8 (ebook)
Other editions: paperback ed. 2023
Signature commbox: 10-Conflicts-E 2023
"Theorising Media and Conflict is the result of a joint and interdisciplinary effort to set the theoretical and empirical agenda in theorising upon the complex relationship between media and conflict. By considering the theorisation work accomplished by the ‘Anthropology of Media’ series forerunner Theorising Media and Practice (edited by Bräuchler and Postill), it takes the notion of media (as) practice to new terrain. It thus counters studies that display Western biases, normative assumptions and unsubstantiated claims about ‘media effects’ in conflict situations. Through ground-up theorising, careful contextualisation, comparative perspectives, ethnographic and other qualitative methods, it provides evidence for the co-constitutiveness of media and conflict, and contributes to the consolidation of media and conflict as a distinct area of scholarship. While the contributions to this book deal with different kinds of media and conflict situations in distinct world regions and examine various aspects of media use, they all engage with media and conflict dynamics from a participant’s perspective as well as from an analytical perspective. Such an approach allows for the theorisation of media and conflict beyond a particular type of media, conflict or region." (Preface, page ix-x)
I. KEY DEBATES
Introduction: Anthropological Perspectives on Theorising Media and Conflict / Birgit Bräuchler and Philipp Budka, 3
1 Transforming Media and Conflict Research / Nicole Stremlau, 33
II. WITNESSING CONFLICT
2 Just a ‘Stupid Reflex’? Digital Witnessing of the Charlie Hebdo Attacks and the Mediation of Conflict / Johanna Sumiala, Minttu Tikka and Katja Valaskivi, 57
3 The Ambivalent Aesthetics and Perception of Mobile Phone Videos: A (De-)Escalating Factor for the Syrian Conflict / Mareike Meis, 76
III. EXPERIENCING CONFLICT
4 Banal Phenomenologies of Conflict: Professional Media Cultures and Audiences of Distant Suffering / Tim Markham, 99
5 Learning to Listen: Theorising the Sounds of Contemporary Media and Conflict / Matthew Sumera, 116
IV. MEDIATED CONFLICT LANGUAGE
6 Trolling and the Orders and Disorders of Communication in ‘(Dis)Information Society’ / Jonathan Paul Marshall, 137
7 ‘Your Rockets Are Late. Do We Get a Free Pizza?’: Israeli-Palestinian Twitter Dialogues and Boundary Maintenance in the 2014 Gaza War / Oren Livio, 158
V. SITES OF CONFLICT
8 What Violent Conflict Tells Us about Media and Place-Making (and Vice Versa): Ethnographic Observations from a Revolutionary Uprising / Nina Grønlykke Mollerup, 181
9 An Ayuujk ‘Media War’ over Water and Land: Mediatised Senses of Belonging between Mexico and the United States / Ingrid Kummels, 196
VI. CONFLICT ACROSS BORDERS
10 Transnationalising the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Media Rituals and Diaspora Activism between California and the South Caucasus / Rik Adriaans, 217
11 Stones Thrown Online: The Politics of Insults, Distance and Impunity in Congolese Polémique / Katrien Pype, 237
VII. AFTER CONFLICT
12 Mending the Wounds of War: A Framework for the Analysis of the Representation of Conflict-Related Trauma and Reconciliation in Cinema / Lennart Soberon, Kevin Smets and Daniel Biltereyst, 257
13 Going off the Record? On the Relationship between Media and the Formation of National Identity in Post-Genocide Rwanda / Silke Oldenburg, 277
14 From War to Peace in Indonesia: Transforming Media and Society / Birgit Bräuchler, 295
Afterword / John Postill, 319
Introduction: Anthropological Perspectives on Theorising Media and Conflict / Birgit Bräuchler and Philipp Budka, 3
1 Transforming Media and Conflict Research / Nicole Stremlau, 33
II. WITNESSING CONFLICT
2 Just a ‘Stupid Reflex’? Digital Witnessing of the Charlie Hebdo Attacks and the Mediation of Conflict / Johanna Sumiala, Minttu Tikka and Katja Valaskivi, 57
3 The Ambivalent Aesthetics and Perception of Mobile Phone Videos: A (De-)Escalating Factor for the Syrian Conflict / Mareike Meis, 76
III. EXPERIENCING CONFLICT
4 Banal Phenomenologies of Conflict: Professional Media Cultures and Audiences of Distant Suffering / Tim Markham, 99
5 Learning to Listen: Theorising the Sounds of Contemporary Media and Conflict / Matthew Sumera, 116
IV. MEDIATED CONFLICT LANGUAGE
6 Trolling and the Orders and Disorders of Communication in ‘(Dis)Information Society’ / Jonathan Paul Marshall, 137
7 ‘Your Rockets Are Late. Do We Get a Free Pizza?’: Israeli-Palestinian Twitter Dialogues and Boundary Maintenance in the 2014 Gaza War / Oren Livio, 158
V. SITES OF CONFLICT
8 What Violent Conflict Tells Us about Media and Place-Making (and Vice Versa): Ethnographic Observations from a Revolutionary Uprising / Nina Grønlykke Mollerup, 181
9 An Ayuujk ‘Media War’ over Water and Land: Mediatised Senses of Belonging between Mexico and the United States / Ingrid Kummels, 196
VI. CONFLICT ACROSS BORDERS
10 Transnationalising the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Media Rituals and Diaspora Activism between California and the South Caucasus / Rik Adriaans, 217
11 Stones Thrown Online: The Politics of Insults, Distance and Impunity in Congolese Polémique / Katrien Pype, 237
VII. AFTER CONFLICT
12 Mending the Wounds of War: A Framework for the Analysis of the Representation of Conflict-Related Trauma and Reconciliation in Cinema / Lennart Soberon, Kevin Smets and Daniel Biltereyst, 257
13 Going off the Record? On the Relationship between Media and the Formation of National Identity in Post-Genocide Rwanda / Silke Oldenburg, 277
14 From War to Peace in Indonesia: Transforming Media and Society / Birgit Bräuchler, 295
Afterword / John Postill, 319
