{"title":"The irony of sectarianism: Sectarianizing by desectarianizing in Syria","authors":"M. Menshawy","doi":"10.1111/dome.12263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12263","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73035565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Discoursing sectarianism” approach: What and how to analyse in sectarian discourses","authors":"Abdulaziz Alghashian, Mustafa Menshawy","doi":"10.1111/dome.12265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12265","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article puts forth ‘discoursing sectarianism’ as an approach helping overcome gaps in essentialism, instrumentalism and constructivism as the three main lines of analysing sectarianism. The approach takes language as a point of departure, showing how it can dually <i>describe</i> reality as a ‘neutral’ medium of communication and also <i>create</i> reality as constitutive component of practices sectarianisation. The approach also focuses on workings of ideology and power relations as part of linking language, texted in variable formats such as written speeches, monuments or images, with contexts shaping or being shaped with them. Thus, we have to study manifestations or articulations sectarianism, e.g. a speech or an image, within the broader process of their actualisation or materialisation (e.g. the context in which these articulations are enforced, transformed, challenged or falsified). This broader process of discoursing sectarianism within language and beyond can thus accommodate elements predominating analyses in the three other lines of enquiry such as religion and history. The final section of the paper maps a practical and analytical toolkit for researchers and analysts seeking to investigate sectarian discourses by offering the three mutually inclusive levels of textual practices, discursive practices and political practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 2","pages":"83-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71954681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Discoursing sectarianism” approach: What and how to analyze in sectarian discourses","authors":"Abdulaziz Alghashian, M. Menshawy","doi":"10.1111/dome.12265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12265","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"122 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87703075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How to analyze visual propaganda in the Middle East: An analysis of imagery in the “Saudi Strike Force Movie”","authors":"Tom Walsh","doi":"10.1111/dome.12262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12262","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87498369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How to analyze visual propaganda in the Middle East: An analysis of imagery in the “Saudi Strike Force Movie”","authors":"Tom Walsh","doi":"10.1111/dome.12262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12262","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper provides an innovative approach to visual analysis in the Middle East. It addresses a fundamental problem in the fields of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Securitization Theory (ST): they largely ignore the visual. This project develops a methodology for visual analysis. Its utility is demonstrated through an examination of a Saudi propaganda video, entitled “Saudi Strike Force Video.” When observing the Saudi-Iranian rivalry on social media, there is a prevalence of visceral visual propaganda. Thus, the need for the construction of a systematic model for its analysis is important in addressing this conceptual gap. CDA and ST are aligned on an essential belief that discourse is a power-laden process, and that to affect change, scholars must attempt to understand its production, articulation, and impact. Yet, both of these approaches tend to focus on the written and spoken word, negating the importance of the visual. This paper contends that the visual is equally power-laden, having a profound effect as a tool of propaganda</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 2","pages":"96-112"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12262","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71987327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Bigh Daddy Show: The potentiality and shortcomings of countering Islamic State through animated satire","authors":"Balsam Mustafa","doi":"10.1111/dome.12261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12261","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper is motivated by the following question: how can animated satire constitute a tool of resistance against terrorist groups and their extremist narratives? To answer this question, I examine an Iraqi animated satirical show produced from late 2015 to 2017 to support the military campaign against Islamic State (IS) by turning the self-proclaimed caliph and other IS terrorists into objects of derision, detached from Iraq and Islam. Engaging with critical approaches to satire and counter/alternative narratives, I argue that the case under analysis has possibilities and limitations. On the one hand, the show attempted to alienate IS from Iraqis and Muslims and unite them in one front in the fight against the group by highlighting the Iraqi identity and exposing contradictions in its narratives. On the other hand, it reinforced problematic conspiracy theory discourses about IS's origin, as well as racial and gender stereotypes, ironically producing another set of contradictions.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 2","pages":"113-130"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12261","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71986341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Bigh Daddy Show: The potentiality and shortcomings of countering Islamic State through animated satire","authors":"Balsam Mustafa","doi":"10.1111/dome.12261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12261","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"113 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79787933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor's introduction to April 2022 issue","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/dome.12260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12260","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73069532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor's introduction to April 2022 issue","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/dome.12260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12260","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 2","pages":"82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71986159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The UN special tribunal for Lebanon (2009–2021): Who cares?","authors":"Benjamin Muller","doi":"10.1111/dome.12257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12257","url":null,"abstract":"<p>More than 15 years after the assassination of Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri, the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) delivered its judgement in the Ayyash et al. Case (STL-11-01) in August 2020. Reflecting on earlier critical scholarship on the STL, this essay considers the role of the STL in the regional and global geopolitical architecture, and the domestic context, in terms of justice, politics, economy and society. Despite the devastating impact of the assassination, persistent crises over the past decade and a half, have eroded the importance and relevance of the STL to Lebanon, its citizens, and even regional geopolitics. Within this context, this brief intervention considers who does and does not care about the STL and why it has or has not had the desired impact, socially, geopolitically, legally, and even within academic scholarship.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"72-77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12257","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71963897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}