Mediating the crusader past in the U.S. and the Middle East after 9/11
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this dissertation, I trace some interlocking dynamics of how numerous accounts of the events of 9/11 and their aftermath invoked the Crusader past. The Crusade metaphor, applied in different ways across media, often proved highly powerful for those attempting to contextualize U.S. and Middle Eastern conflict after 9/11. Probing the use of the Crusades in the post-9/11 era across genres and media, this study asks how, and to what effects, metaphors of past violence like the Crusades are created, received, and remediated in the U.S. and in the Middle East in ways that invoke historical or practical orientations towards the past. By examining an array of narratives, my study shows more broadly how stories of the distant past are remediated as living metaphors of the "practical past" for individuals and groups trying to explain contemporary events. In each case study, I ask how, and to what effect for their audience, stories of the practical past travel under new conditions of contemporary multimedia environments. My project in this way focuses on how we may best trace and evaluate the consequences of cultural and political narratives as they employ metaphors of the past across new platforms of communication that create novel ways of engaging with transmedia narratives and endowing audiences with a sense of interpretive agency. By investigating narratives and metaphors as crucial modes of communication in the personal and social formation of identity, I explore how figurative language is mediated to contextualize and respond to events like 9/11 (e.g. calling it our contemporary, "new Crusade"). Given the shifting landscape of social and political communication, I use case studies that outline some ways in which traditional narratives, as well as new media at platforms, encourage "passive" audiences or consumers to become active interpreters, media spreaders, or "read/write" creators. Given the role of new social media, my project addresses both the positive outcome of this trajectory (e.g. greater political and civic participation) as well as its potential dangers, especially the strategic invocation of past violence to justify contemporary conflict or future acts of violence and terrorism.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Johnsrud, Brian C |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Program in Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Primary advisor | Turner, Fred |
| Thesis advisor | Turner, Fred |
| Thesis advisor | Eshel, Amir |
| Thesis advisor | Wineburg, Samuel S |
| Advisor | Eshel, Amir |
| Advisor | Wineburg, Samuel S |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Brian C. Johnsrud. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Program in Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Brian Charles Johnsrud
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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