Gothic visibilities and International Relations
Uncanny icons, critical comics, and the politics of abjection in Aleppo
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11426596 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frederik Carl Windfeld (0000-0002-0805-8114, European University Institute, corresponding author), Marius Hauge Hvithamar (University of Copenhagen), Lene Hansen (0000-0001-7918-3943, University of Copenhagen) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3-34 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of International Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0260-2105 • E-ISSN: 1469-9044 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0260210522000547 |
| OpenAlex | W4317036934 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 9 |
The war in Syria has been communicated to global audiences through images of dead and injured children, decapitated and tortured bodies, and ruined cities. The article shows how news media coverage of the war's impact on the city of Aleppo invoked a Gothic tradition. Drawing on Kristeva and Freud's concepts of the abject and the uncanny, the article argues that the Gothic tradition can further International Relations research on the constitution of Selves and Others. The Gothic Other is constituted through the (Gothic) Self's repulsion, fascination, and desire, and the Gothic tradition revolves around an understanding of the invisible as an in-between space of fear and anticipation. The ability to recognise Gothic themes in an image depends on one's familiarity with the Gothic tradition, hence images are theorised as having a Gothic potentiality. The article focuses on how the Anglo-Saxon Gothic tradition enabled Western readers to identify Gothic themes in news coverage of the war in Aleppo. The article adopts a multimethod strategy including a content analysis of 457 images published by Western news media; a discourse analysis of news stories; an analysis of three Gothic, uncanny iconic motifs; and an author-created comic drawing on Gothic elements from the published photographs
Art · Comics · Epistemology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Uncanny · Uncanny valley · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Philosophy
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A tale of two cities
The Omran Daqneesh imagery from the streets of Aleppo to international front pages
How images make world politics
Where We At? New Directions for Research on Popular Culture and World Politics
Beyond anything we have ever seen
The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis
Politics, policy-making and the presence of images of suffering children
Post-Heroic Warfare' and Ghosts-The Social Control of Dead American Soldiers in Iraq
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |