Description
Book SynopsisDrawing upon research in cultural psychiatry, cultural psychology, and psychiatric anthropology, Neil Krishan Aggarwal investigates how the Islamic State has convinced people to engage in violence. Aggarwal offers a definitive analysis of how culture is created, debated, and disseminated within militant organizations like the Islamic State.
Trade ReviewAggarwal creates a complete and engaging analysis of the material, providing a wealth of diverse academic theory and making a series of innovative and intriguing links between the functioning of terrorist organizations and nonterroristic counterparts. He brings a unique perspective to the area and expertise that allows him to understand and investigate the role that the materials play in a nuanced and theoretical manner. -- John Voll, Georgetown University
How do jihadis persuade faraway followers to kill in their name? Aggarwal provides a detailed exploration of jihadi discourse to explain how adherents disrupt their audience's thoughts and emotions to promote violence. A definitive analysis of terrorists' psychology of persuasion. -- Jessica Stern, author of
Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants KillRarely does a body of scholarship navigate the academic, practitioner, and current conversation on transnational terrorism. With careful and meticulous content analysis using primary sources, Aggarwal offers insights utilizing his professional expertise as a clinical psychiatrist and his deep understanding of terrorist movements. Readers will be rewarded with an intellectual journey that offers fresh perspectives and insights that will aid policy observers in this field globally. -- Muhammad Fraser-Rahim, executive director, Quilliam Foundation
Aggarwal’s book fills a major gap in our understanding of the Islamic State and its appeal. His exploration of media from IS's predecessor groups from a cultural and psychological approach provides an important distillation that highlights how it has also evolved and changed over time, helping better contextualize where the group is today. -- Aaron Y. Zelin, Richard Borow Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
There is no doubt that the media in its broadest form plays a role in informing, educating, and teaching us about ‘the other’—and at times pandering to our prejudices. Neil Aggarwal analyzes the way media can be and is often used and manipulated, while highlighting cultural factors that play a major role in a number of ways. He has begun a dialogue in careful, thought-provoking style. -- Dinesh Bhugra, emeritus professor, King’s College London
Researchers in any field who seek to understand ISIS’s substantial propaganda output, as well as those seeking an insight into their inner group dynamics, would find this book very useful. -- Sean Looney * Media, War, and Conflict *
Media Persuasion in the Islamic State illustrates the ways in which new media can be used to induce barbarianism, even to the level of suicidal behaviour, using a single powerful religion rather than physical territory as a base. -- Martin Guha * International Journal of Social Psychiatry *
Aggarwal’s study forcefully brings to light new intricate and significant observations regarding the psychological techniques pursued by militant jihadist media. * Middle Eastern Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
1. Studying Islamic State Discourse as Mediated Disorder
2. The Organization of Monotheism and Jihad: Constructing a Militant Cultural Identity
3. Al Qaeda in Iraq: OMJ, Al Qaeda, and Militant Acculturation
4. The Assembly of the Mujahideen Council: Common Group Identity Formation
5. The Islamic State of Iraq, 2006–2013: A Shift in Militant Identity
6. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria: Militant Cultural Diffusion
7. The Islamic State: The Transmission of Militancy in Families
8. Toward a Science, Policy, and Practice of Militant Counter-Messaging
Notes
References
Index
