Module POL3000 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3000: Deadly Words: The Language of Political Violence
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The primary aim of this module is to develop the analytical skills required for the study of extremist texts and speeches. You will gain a fine understanding of the most pertinent theoretical approaches focusing on language and conflict broadly construed, and will learn to put these approaches to play for the study of violent political actors’ communications.
More broadly, the module ought to strengthen your critical understanding of 1) political communication at large (including mainstream), 2) conflict and insecurity, and 3) processes of “othering”, categorization and classifications in socio-political contexts.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Identify the main approaches and theories of language and violence; 2. Explain in a sophisticated way how these theories help to analyse specific cases; 3. Draw the implications of this theoretical framework to a wider variety of political speeches and texts in a critical way; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Integrate complex and unconnected scientific inquiries (from various disciplines) within a single coherent piece of analysis on extremist political language; 5. Apply highly theoretical constructs to real-life political examples; 6. Analyse past and ongoing political problems through the prism of the theoretical framework seen in class; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 7. Applying practical analysis of any example of extremist language. 8. Deliver a systematic analysis of a real case of extremist prose that is written rigorously yet comprehensibly for a non-academic target readership. |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic readings:
Berntzen L.E., Sandberg S. (2014) “The Collective Nature of Lone Wolf Terrorism: Anders Behring Breivik and the Anti-Islamic Social Movement, Terrorism & Political Violence 26(5): 759-779.
Bhatia M. (2005) “Fighting Words: Naming Terrorists, Bandits, Rebels and Other Violent Actors”, Third World Quarterly 26(1): 5-22.
Buzan B., Waever O., De Wilde J. (1998) Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Fekete L. (2011) “The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre”, Race & Class 53(3): 30-47.
Halfmann D., Young M. (2010) “War Pictures: The Grotesque as a Mobilizing Tactic”, Mobilization: An International Quarterly 15(1): 1-24
Halverson J., Goodall H., Corman S. (2011) Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hewstone M., Cairns E. (2001) “Social Psychology and Intergroup Conflict”, in Chirot, Seligman (eds.) Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, pp.319-342.
Ingram H. (2016) “An analysis of Islamic State’s Dabiq magazine”, Australian Journal of Political Science, Early view.
Ingram H. (2016b) “Deciphering the Siren Call of Militant Islamist Propaganda: Meaning, Credibility and Behavioural Change”, ICCT Research Paper, online document.
Ingram H. (2017) “An Analysis of Inspire and Dabiq: Lessons from AQAP and Islamic State’s Propaganda War”, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40(5): 357-375.
Kunda Z. (1999) Social Cognition. Making Sense of People. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lasswell H. (1927) “The Theory of Political Propaganda”, American Political Science Review 21(3): 627-631.
McCauley C., Moskalenko S. (2008) “Mechanisms of Political Radicalization: Pathways Toward Terrorism”, Terrorism & Political Violence 20(3): 415-433.
Milton D. (2016) Communication Breakdown: Unraveling the Islamic State’s Media Efforts”, Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point, online document available at https://ctc.usma.edu/posts/communication-breakdown-unraveling-the-islamic-states-media-efforts.
Oliver J., Wood T. (2014) “Conspiracy Theories and the Paranoid Style(s) of Mass Opinion”, American Journal of Political Science 58(4): 952-966.
Pegelow T. (2006) “Determining ‘People of German Blood’, ‘Jews’ and ‘Mischlinge’: The Reich Kinship Office and the Competing Discourses and Powers of Nazism, 1941–1943”, Contemporary European History 15(1): 43-65.
Reicher S., Hopkins N., Levine M., Rath R. (2005) “Entrepreneurs of Hate and Entrepreneurs of Solidarity: Social Identity as a Basis for Mass Communication”, International Review of the Red Cross 87(860): 621-637.
Sullivan D., Landau M., Rothschild Z. (2010) “An Existential Function of Enemyship: Evidence that People Attribute Influence to Personal and Political Enemies to Compensate for Threats to Control”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98(3): 434-449.
Tajfel H., Turner J. (1979) “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict”. In Austin W., Worschel S. (eds.) The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Monterey: Brooks.
Whiteside C. (2016) “Lighting the Path: The Evolution of the Islamic State Media Enterprise (2003-2016)”, ICCT Research Paper, online document.
From the module convenor:
Baele S., Boyd K., Coan T., eds. (2019) ISIS Propaganda. Oxford University Press.
Baele S., Boyd K., Coan T. (2019): “Lethal Images: Analysing Extremist Visual Propaganda”, Journal of Global Security Studies, online before print.
Baele S., Brace L., Coan T. (2019): “From ‘Incel’ to ‘Saint’: Analyzing the Violent Worldview behind the 2018 Toronto Attack”, Terrorism & Political Violence, online before print.
Richards H., Baele S., Coan T. (2019): “Studying “Radio Machete”: Towards a Robust Research Programme”, Journal of Genocide Research 21(4).
Baele S. (2019): Conspiratorial Narratives in Violent Political Actors’ Language”, Journal of Language & Social Psychology 38(5-6).
Baele S., Bettiza G., Boyd K., Coan T. (2019) “ISIS’ Clash of Civilizations: Constructing the ‘West’ in Terrorist Propaganda, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, online before print
Baele S., Sterck O., Slingeneyer T., Lits G. (2017) “What Does the “Terrorist” Label Really Do? Measuring and Explaining the Effects of the “Terrorist” and “Islamist” Categories”, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.
Baele S., Sterck O., Meur E. (2016) “Theorizing and Measuring Emotions in Conflict. The Case of the 2011 Palestinian Statehood Bid”, Journal of Conflict Resolution 60(4).Baele S., Coan T., Boyd K. (2018) Words of Violence. Theorizing and Mapping Conspiratorial Intergroup Language”, Working Paper.
