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" Captives and their monsters: Use of captivity narratives in the construction of the imagined Muslim monster "
Mary Ellen Stout
DeVos, Paula
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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804059
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| Doc. No
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TL48872
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| Call number
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1811622514; 10128269
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| Main Entry
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Sajjadi, Seyedehparisa
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| Title & Author
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Captives and their monsters: Use of captivity narratives in the construction of the imagined Muslim monster\ Mary Ellen StoutDeVos, Paula
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| College
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San Diego State University
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| Date
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2016
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| Degree
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M.A.
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| field of study
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History
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| student score
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2016
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| Page No
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151
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| Note
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Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-339-86281-1
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| Abstract
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Popular culture and mass media in the United States during times of crisis, anxiety, fear, and emasculated frustration have constructed and perpetuated the Muslim male as the monstrous other in order to regain national masculinity, spur patriotic military action, and justify atrocities that would otherwise be outside the realm of morality and social norms. Monsters historically have been constructed to explain the unknown, the unexplainable, and the intolerable. They mirror societies’ greatest fears. Monsters have also been used as a warning to society, as an explanation for an unexplainable creature or human defect, or to incite violence against an enemy. In times of war, the adversary is often presented in the form of the monster to dehumanize the enemy. While this phenomenon has been exacerbated in the aftermath of 9/11, the monstering of Muslims has existed since before the time of the Crusades. Using Jeffrey Cohen’s <i>Monster Theory,</i> as well as Michel Foucault’s theories on discourse, power, and knowledge and the critical theories of Edward Said, this thesis unveils the power of the media on multiple levels to incite public discourse and use the abject to construct Muslims as the enemy. This research focuses on the use of captivity narratives in the periods surrounding the Barbary Wars, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the “War on Terror” by print media, art, academics, television news, and movies and reveals that in times of national crisis against the Muslim adversary, U.S. popular culture and mass media constructed the Muslim male as a monster in order incite and justify violence, war, and torture.
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| Subject
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Middle Eastern history; American history; Communication; World History
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| Descriptor
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Social sciences;Communication and the arts
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| Added Entry
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DeVos, Paula
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HistorySan Diego State University
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