Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-9/11

Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-9/11 PDF Author: Marita Gronnvoll
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136950001
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this timely book, Gronnvoll offers a feminist rhetorical examination of gender and torture, looking at the media coverage of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay, as well as recent popular entertainment television serials where torture appears as a plot device (including 24). In exposing news media coverage to such scrutiny, she finds that cases of American personnel engaging in torture achieved notoriety chiefly because of the fact that women were perpetrators. The language of commentators suggests at least as much social outrage over the gender performance of the women as over the fact of torture being committed by Americans. At the same time, political and social discourses sketch a portrait of an intractable enemy in the form of the Muslim "Other" and betray a longing for a savior warrior hero who is capable of prevailing over this perceived "evil." Yet, news coverage of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay suggests women warriors are socially perceived as lacking the necessary qualifications to be such saviors. This finding provides a transition into an examination of popular entertainment television programs that feature male and female heroes as government agents engaged in fighting the war on terrorism. Ultimately, Gronnvoll's analysis suggests that a Western cultural longing for a savior is partially fulfilled through fictional programming portrayals of masculine warriors who engage in torture and remain heroic.

Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-9/11

Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-9/11 PDF Author: Marita Gronnvoll
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136950001
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this timely book, Gronnvoll offers a feminist rhetorical examination of gender and torture, looking at the media coverage of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay, as well as recent popular entertainment television serials where torture appears as a plot device (including 24). In exposing news media coverage to such scrutiny, she finds that cases of American personnel engaging in torture achieved notoriety chiefly because of the fact that women were perpetrators. The language of commentators suggests at least as much social outrage over the gender performance of the women as over the fact of torture being committed by Americans. At the same time, political and social discourses sketch a portrait of an intractable enemy in the form of the Muslim "Other" and betray a longing for a savior warrior hero who is capable of prevailing over this perceived "evil." Yet, news coverage of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay suggests women warriors are socially perceived as lacking the necessary qualifications to be such saviors. This finding provides a transition into an examination of popular entertainment television programs that feature male and female heroes as government agents engaged in fighting the war on terrorism. Ultimately, Gronnvoll's analysis suggests that a Western cultural longing for a savior is partially fulfilled through fictional programming portrayals of masculine warriors who engage in torture and remain heroic.

Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-9/11

Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-9/11 PDF Author: Marita Gronnvoll
Publisher:
ISBN: 0415874807
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Get Book Here

Book Description
How do you define the good life? For many, success is measured not by health and happiness but by financial wealth. But such a worldview overlooks the important things in life: personal contentment, family time, spirituality, and the health of the planet and those living on it. A preoccupation with money and possessions is not only unhealthy, it can also drain the true joy from life. In recent years, millions have watched their American Dreams go up in smoke. The international financial collapse, inflation, massive layoffs, and burgeoning consumer debt have left people in dire financial straits---including John Robbins, a crusader for planet-friendly food and lifestyle choices, who lost his entire savings in an investment scam. But Robbins soon realized that there was a potential upside to our collective financial downturn: Curtailed consumerism could lead us to reassess our lives and values. The New Good Life provides a philosophical and prescriptive path from conspicuous consumption to conscious consumption. Where the old view of success was measured by cash, stocks, and various luxuries, the new view will be guided by financial restraint and a new awareness of what truly matters. A passionate manifesto on finding meaning beyond money and status, this book delivers a sound blueprint for living well on less. The New Good Life provides much-needed hope and comfort in a time of fear and uncertainty. Here is everything you need to develop high-joy, low-cost solutions to life's challenges. Practical and timely, this book equips you with the skills needed not only to survive but to thrive in these challenging times.

Post-9/11 Heartland Horror

Post-9/11 Heartland Horror PDF Author: Victoria McCollum
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317077520
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the resurgence of rural horror following the events of 9/11, as a number of filmmakers, inspired by the films of the 1970s, moved away from the characteristic industrial and urban settings of apocalyptic horror, to return to American heartland horror. Examining the revival of rural horror in an era of city fear and urban terrorism, the author analyses the relationship of the genre with fears surrounding the Global War on Terror, exploring the films’ engagement with the political repercussions of 9/11 and the ways in which traces of traumatic events leave their mark on cultures. Arranged around the themes of dissent, patriotism, myth, anger and memorial, and with attention to both text and socio-cultural context in its interpretation of the films’ themes, Post-9/11 Heartland Horror offers a series of case studies covering a ten-year period to shed light on the manner in which the Post-9/11 Heartland Horror films scrutinize and unravel the events, aspirations, anxieties, discourses, dogmas, and socio-political conflicts of the post-9/11 era. As such, it will appeal to scholars and students of film studies, cultural studies and media studies, and those with interests in the relationship between popular culture and politics.

A Few Good Gays

A Few Good Gays PDF Author: Cati Connell
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520382706
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
The US military has done an about-face on gender and sexuality policy over the last decade, ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, restrictions on women in combat, and transgender exclusion. Contrary to expectations, servicemembers have largely welcomed cisgender LGB individuals—yet they continue to vociferously resist trans inclusion and the presence of women on the front lines. In the minds of many, the embodied “deficiencies” of cisgender women and trans people of all genders puts others—and indeed, the nation—at risk. In this book, Cati Connell identifies the homonormative bargain that underwrites these uneven patterns of reception—a bargain that comes with significant concessions, upholding and even exacerbating race, class, and gender inequality in the pursuit of sexual equality. In this handshake deal, even the widespread support for open LGB service is highly conditional, revocable upon violation of the bargain. Despite the promise of inclusivity, in practice, the military has made room only for a “few good gays,” to the exclusion of all others. But should equal access be the goal? How did we get from there to here? And where do we go next? In analyzing inclusion as a social movement aspiration, Connell shows that its steep price is exacted through the continued abjection of queered Others, both at home and abroad.

The Radical Pedagogies of Socrates and Freire

The Radical Pedagogies of Socrates and Freire PDF Author: Stephen Brown
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136596593
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Get Book Here

Book Description
Situating contemporary critical praxis at the intersection of the social, the political, and the rhetorical, this book is a provocative inquiry into the teaching philosophies of Plato’s Socrates and Paulo Freire that has profound implications for contemporary education. Brown not only sheds new light on the surprising and significant points of intersection between ancient rhetoric and radical praxis as embodied in the teaching philosophies of Socrates and Freire, using the philosophy of each to illumine the teaching of the other, but uses this analysis to lead contemporary education in a bold new direction, articulating a vision for a neo-humanist pragmatism. The book draws on the post-Freudian theories of Jacques Derrida, Peter Brooks, and Otto Rank, as well as on the neo-pragmatism of Cornell West to craft a new radical pedagogy configured to the realities of "post flash-crash" America. In the process, it discovers a space for a much broader application of Freire’s teaching philosophy than previous works, moving beyond a narrow focus on "liberatory" pedagogy or "teaching resistance," toward a neo-humanist pragmatism emphasizing interactive learning, problem-posing analysis, and civic engagement. Brown crafts a social-epistemic praxis that fuses the pedagogies of Freire and Socrates, joining the analytical, the ethical, and the political as part of an inquiry and intervention into the real, the good, and the possible that poses problematic aspects of contemporary reality in a search for the program content of a Pedagogy of Social Change.

Reading, Writing, and the Rhetorics of Whiteness

Reading, Writing, and the Rhetorics of Whiteness PDF Author: Wendy Ryden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136630600
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this volume, Ryden and Marshall bring together the field of composition and rhetoric with critical whiteness studies to show that in our "post race" era whiteness and racism not only survive but actually thrive in higher education. As they examine the effects of racism on contemporary literacy practices and the rhetoric by which white privilege maintains and reproduces itself, Ryden and Marshall consider topics ranging from the emotional investment in whiteness to the role of personal narrative in reconstituting racist identities to critiques of the foundational premises of writing programs steeped in repudiation of despised discourses. Marshall and Ryden alternate chapters to sustain a multi-layered dialogue that traces the rhetorical complexities and contradictions of teaching English and writing in a university setting. Their lived experiences as faculty and administrators serve to underscore the complex code of whiteness even as they push to decode it and demonstrate how their own pedagogical practices are raced and racialized in multiple ways. Collectively, the essays ask instructors and administrators to consider more carefully the pernicious nature of whiteness in their professional activities and how it informs our practices. Publisher's note.

Rhetoric, Remembrance, and Visual Form

Rhetoric, Remembrance, and Visual Form PDF Author: Anne Teresa Demo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136633545
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume offers a multifaceted investigation of intersections among visual and memorial forms in modern art, politics, and society. The question of the relationships among images and memory is particularly relevant to contemporary society, at a time when visually-based technologies are increasingly employed in both grand and modest efforts to preserve the past amid rapid social change. The chapters in Rhetoric, Remembrance, and Visual Form provide valuable insights concerning not only how memories may be seen (or sighted) in visual form but also how visual forms constitute noteworthy material sites of memory. The collection addresses this central theme with a wealth of interdisciplinary and international approaches, featuring conventional scholarly as well as artistic works from such disciplines as rhetoric and communication, art and art history, architecture, landscape studies, and more, by contributors from around the globe.

In Plain Sight

In Plain Sight PDF Author: Gaby Zipfel
Publisher: Zubaan
ISBN: 9385932926
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 475

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the mid 1970s, at the peak of the women’s movement, feminist activism and research opened the door to questions that are still pressing today. While sexual violence has gained public awareness and become a subject in academic debate, efforts to understand and strategies to prevent this form of violence remain inadequate. Who are the perpetrators? How is sexual violence tied to other forms of violence? What are the consequences for individual victims and societies? Compiled by the International Research Group ‘Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict’ (SVAC), this volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding wartime sexual violence. Its enquiry employs four key relationships: War/Power, Violence/Sexuality, Gender/Engendering and Visibility/Invisibility. Through these, the authors identify gaps in existing knowledge to develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the field. This volume is the result of long-standing cooperation. The International Research Group ‘Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict’ (SVAC) is a network of interdisciplinary scholars and NGO experts founded in October 2010. Sociologists, philosophers, historians, literary and legal scholars as well as NGO professionals from Europe, the US, Asia and Africa bring together empirical and theoretical studies focusing on sexual violence in different theatres of armed conflict. The group compares source material and promotes the systematic development of research questions and methods.

Screening Torture

Screening Torture PDF Author: Michael Flynn
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231526970
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

Get Book Here

Book Description
Before 9/11, films addressing torture outside of the horror/slasher genre depicted the practice in a variety of forms. In most cases, torture was cast as the act of a desperate and depraved individual, and the viewer was more likely to identify with the victim rather than the torturer. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, scenes of brutality and torture in mainstream comedies, dramatic narratives, and action films appear for little other reason than to titillate and delight. In these films, torture is devoid of any redeeming qualities, represented as an exercise in brutal senselessness carried out by authoritarian regimes and institutions. This volume follows the shift in the representation of torture over the past decade, specifically in documentary, action, and political films. It traces and compares the development of this trend in films from the United States, Europe, China, Latin America, South Africa, and the Middle East. Featuring essays by sociologists, psychologists, historians, journalists, and specialists in film and cultural studies, the collection approaches the representation of torture in film and television from multiple angles and disciplines, connecting its aesthetics and practices to the dynamic of state terror and political domination.

The Second Amendment and Gun Control

The Second Amendment and Gun Control PDF Author: Kevin Yuill
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351783335
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Second Amendment, by far the most controversial amendment to the US Constitution, will soon celebrate its 225th anniversary. Yet, despite the amount of ink spilled over this controversy, the debate continues on into the 21st century. Initially written with a view towards protecting the nascent nation from more powerful enemies and preventing the tyranny experienced during the final years of British rule, the Second Amendment has since become central to discussions about the balance between security and freedom. It features in election contests and informs cultural discussions about race and gender. This book seeks to broaden the discussion. It situates discussion about gun controls within contemporary debates about citizenship, culture, philosophy and foreign policy as well as in the more familiar terrain of politics and history. It features experts on the Constitution as well as chapters discussing the symbolic importance of Annie Oakley, the role of firearms in race, and filmic representations of armed Hispanic girl gangs. It asks about the morality of gun controls and of not imposing them. The collection presents a balanced view between those who favour more gun controls and those who would prefer fewer of them. It is infused with the belief that through honest and open debate the often bitter cultural divide on the Second Amendment can be overcome and real progress made. It contains a diverse range of perspectives including, uniquely, a European perspective on this most American of issues.