scholarly journals Listening to Terror Soundscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-77
Author(s):  
Luis Velasco-Pufleau
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Extreme Violence ◽  
The Way ◽  
Violent Events

Listening experiences provide valuable insights in understanding the meaning of events and shaping the way we remember them afterwards. Listening builds relationships with places and subjectivities. What kinds of relationships and connections are built through listening during an event of extreme violence, such as a terrorist attack? This article examines the relationships between sound, space, and affect through an acoustemology of Bataclan survivors’ sensory experiences of both the terrorist attack and its aftermath. I draw on the testimonies of nine survivors of the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris, which unfolded on the evening of 13 November 2015 during a rock concert, as well as interviews with three parents of survivors and victims. This article explores how the study of listening experiences and aural memories of survivors contributes to understanding mnemonic dynamics and processes of recovery related to sound following violent events.

scholarly journals Are emotions perceptions of value?

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérôme Dokic ◽  
Stéphane Lemaire
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
States Of Affairs ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Evaluative Response ◽  
The World ◽  
Response Dependence ◽  
Present Response ◽  
The Way

A popular idea at present is that emotions are perceptions of values. Most defenders of this idea have interpreted it as the perceptual thesis that emotions present (rather than merely represent) evaluative states of affairs in the way sensory experiences present us with sensible aspects of the world. We argue against the perceptual thesis. We show that the phenomenology of emotions is compatible with the fact that the evaluative aspect of apparent emotional contents has been incorporated from outside. We then deal with the only two views that can make sense of the perceptual thesis. On the response–dependence view, emotional experiences present evaluative response-dependent properties (being fearsome, being disgusting, etc.) in the way visual experiences present response-dependent properties such as colors. On the response–independence view, emotional experiences present evaluative response-independent properties (being dangerous, being indigestible, etc.), conceived as ‘Gestalten’ independent of emotional feelings themselves. We show that neither view can make plausible the idea that emotions present values as such, i.e., in an open and transparent way. If emotions have apparent evaluative contents, this is in fact due to evaluative enrichments of the non-evaluative presentational contents of emotions.

Future and Prophecies in the World Vision of the Islamic State Organization

Futures ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 295-310
Author(s):  
Mohamed-Ali Adraoui
Keyword(s):  
Islamic State ◽  
The Past ◽  
World Vision ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Extreme Violence ◽  
State Organization ◽  
The Way

This chapter examines the Islamic State’s conceptualization of history and the future in relation this movement’s understanding of eschatology and the ‘End of Times’. Drawing on a veritable stream of jihadist literature, this chapter sheds light on the organization’s theorization of history, and the ways in which the Islamic State’s consistent jihadist millenarianism echoes an incessant dialectic between the past and the future to the detriment of a depreciated and sacrificed present. Adraoui demonstrates the way in which the Islamic State’s fundamentalist (mis-)interpretation of Islamic prophetic discourse merges terrestrial and celestial time, which is used to justify and exacerbate the use of extreme violence in pursuit of the organization’s aggressive political aims.

Long-term security will elude Pakistan military courts

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Development Spending ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way

Significance A response to the deadly December 16 Peshawar terrorist attack, the legislation paves the way for re-establishing military courts to try suspected terrorists in an expeditious manner. Although all major political parties voted for the change, the idea of military courts amid civilian rule has generated bitter debate about their impact on democratic governance and efficacy in combating terrorism. Impacts Pakistan-India ties are likely to be damaged by the amendments that grant the military a legal cover to choose 'good' and 'bad' jihadis. However, Pakistan's ties with Washington could improve. Civilian finance is likely for the military courts, shrinking Islamabad's already inadequate development spending.

Metamorphosing Histories: The Narrative as a Tool for Psychological Trauma's Recovery

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S512-S512
Author(s):  
J. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Direct Influence ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Unexpected Event ◽  
Intense Fear ◽  
Resilience Process ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
The Way ◽  
Violent Events

Considering psychological traumatism as a subject in constant discussion, this study approaches the recovery of the patients that suffered violent events. Based on studies about the reflection of disasters and wars, we present trauma as a consequence of the unexpected event from where is originated intense fear. Trauma is a violation, an abruption, which disorganizes and incapacitates the victim. When a violence situation is experienced, the physical and verbal abuses are not alone as the elements that interfere in the trauma's establishment, but also their representations. Thereby, the event that produces trauma is imposed, although its meaning depends of the history and beliefs of the subject. Understanding that the accident's representation is the cause of the trauma's establishment, we introduce the narrative as tool for psychological trauma's recovery, because it allows the victims relive their past and reframe their feelings. Regarding it, we highlight the relevance of the sociocultural context – before, during and after the trauma –, once it has direct influence over the way the person deals with adversities, as it can stimulate or stop a resilience process. This study takes in consideration that resilience is not something static, a faculty that the subject has or not, but a process that can be developed, improved or reduced. Thus, the narrative is presented as essential to initiate a resilience process, empowering the victims to confront the trauma and to rewrite their history and their return to life.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals The Duty of Care for Citizens Abroad: Security and Responsibility in the In Amenas and Fukushima Crises

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Græger ◽  
Wrenn Yennie Lindgren
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Practical Skills ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Violent Events

Summary This article analyses the state’s duty of care (DoC) for citizens who fall victim to unforeseen catastrophic or violent events abroad. The DoC highlights the challenges, dynamics and relations involved in diplomatic practice that is aimed at protecting citizens outside of state borders and where traditional security concepts have little relevance. How has a globalized, more insecure world — with shifting relations and responsibilities among states, their subordinates and other carers — affected the provision of DoC? How do governments and private actors act on the DoC during and after crises? To illustrate, the article draws on the terrorist attack at a gas facility in Algeria in 2013 and the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, focusing particularly on the Norwegian framework and approach to protecting citizens abroad. In both crises, implementing the DoC required practical skills and measures beyond traditional diplomacy and institutionalized crisis mechanisms.

scholarly journals Violence, Rumor, and Elusive Trust in Mocímboa da Praia, Mozambique

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Ana Margarida Sousa Santos
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Trust Relationships ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Way ◽  
Violent Events

The riots of 2005 in Mocímboa da Praia and the current violent attacks in Cabo Delgado province have resulted in a range of unsettling rumors. This article revisits the riots and their aftermath to make sense of the rumors that have spread since then, fueling fears of violence and uncertainty. These disconcerting rumors are especially rich in what they tell us about the perception of the political Other and the narratives that materialize following violent events. The way in which rumors circulated and were believed or discarded draws a rough picture of the local political arena. This article discusses the elusive nature of trust following sudden violence and addresses the role and relevance of rumors as an obstacle to the creation of peaceful trust relationships.

scholarly journals Headhunting as Reflexive Violence

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-110
Author(s):  
Arne Røkkum
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Violence ◽  
The Way

This is a commentary article on existing anthropological views on headhunting practices. Its focus is an article by Mikkelsen (2017) in this journal, ‘Facehunting: Empathy, Masculinity and Violence among the Bugkalot.’ The commentary article sees value in Mikkelsen’s critical stance on the issue of extreme violence, such as headhunting not entailing a prior dehumanization of the victim. ‘Headhunting as Reflexive Violence’ addresses an issue of ‘selective empathy,’ and concludes that in light of the Bugkalot ethnography and impulsive headhunting, the discussion point could be one, following Persson and Savulescu (2017), of ‘reflexive empathy.’ The article argues that attention should be given to the material, plastic, and tonal practices celebrating and possibly even eliciting the kill. These might provide us with a rare window into the way cultural techniques can embellish violence. 

Karen ethno-nationalism and the wrist-tying ceremony along the Thai–Burmese border

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasert Rangkla
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Northern Thailand ◽  
Border Area ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Invented Tradition ◽  
The Way

This article presents an ethnographic investigation of displaced Karen in a border area of northern Thailand, and in particular, the reasons for their enthusiasm for the wrist-tying ceremony. It examines the way in which Karen ethno-nationalists have both influenced this cultural practice and appropriated it. This study argues that Karen nationalist intellectuals invented and reinvented the tradition of wrist-tying by borrowing structure and content from the use of soul-calling for healing and other purposes. The invented tradition is persuasive and efficacious because of its continuities and ties with existing cultural practices. Ordinary Karen participants utilise vernacular elements of the wrist-tying rite — such as sensory experiences through the handling of ritual objects — to assure a well-balanced life and spiritual security.

Everyday Structures/Everyday Language

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Extreme Violence ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Way

Chapter four expands on both the aesthetic tendency to refuse guidance in relation to depictions of violence, and the need in the critical discourse that surrounds extreme cinema to impose coherence on violent representation. Where the films in chapter three stylistically equate moments of extreme violence with the banal, chapter four considers films in which the intrusion of violence into the everyday is marked as a definite rupture. Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl (2001) and Bruno Dumont’s Twentynine Palms (2003) establish familiar patterns and worlds only to break them with paroxysms of violence in their final minutes. Disoriented by these seemingly illegible shifts, critical and scholarly responses tend to interpret them in terms of a shift in genre, or dismiss them as an authorial misstep. Unpacking these responses, and considering issues of authorship, genre, and aesthetics, chapter four argues that it is the films’ broader orienting structures that pave the way for disturbing affect. This chapter considers the ways in which Breillat and Dumont’s films involve us by establishing proximate and alienating structures congruent with the theoretical distinctions between positive and negative conceptions of the everyday.

Symbolic structures, sensory experiences and nostalgia in cultural engagement: the case of the festa in Malta

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Visanich
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Patron Saint ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Cultural Event ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Way

This article refers to nostalgia and the way it is triggered by emotion-bearing symbolic structures and sensory experiences, to make sense of how these are played out in cultural engagement. It examines how the popular cultural event of the festa in Malta, an annual village feast of the patron saint, acts as a platform for nostalgic experiences. With reference to Jeffrey Alexander’s ‘iconic consciousness’, the arguments brought forward are positioned broadly within the notion of symbolic and sensory dynamics during the festa. Additionally, the collective shared experiences of festa enthusiasts, in a Durkheimian tradition, are explored to obtain knowledge on how they make sense of their past and present meanings as well as their feelings towards the village saint and the festa in general. Through the use of interviews conducted with persons who are actively engaged in this event, this article understands how their sense of belonging, both in terms of the material and non-material culture are central in the multimodal nostalgic meaning-making process.

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