From the Other to the Double: Identity in Conflict and the Boston Marathon Bombing

Abstract

Mediated representations of identity have long been mobilized to energize war efforts. While conflict has changed significantly in the past 70 years, thinking about the relationship between identity, media representation, and conflict continues to revolve around notions of the Other. This article develops a more nuanced theory of identity and conflict, as it manifests in the phenomenon of homegrown terrorism, through the figure of the Double. The function of identity in and for conflict is explored by situating media representations of threat in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing within theories of enmity and biopower.Ultimately, the article argues that the Double, which unsettles identity and defers its closure, is a fundamental component of the strategies and discourses of contemporary conflict.

Staying in the Game: Activation, Vigilance, and Normalization of Emergency Calls in Austria

“…Other scholars trace the historical connection between the implementation of emergency centers and efficient police management (Reeves and Packer 2013;Wilson 2019) or focus on contemporary anti-terror campaigns. The latter accounts highlight how police strategies rely on people's vigilance, suspicion, and awareness by also stigmatizing and stereotyping certain social, and often migrant, groups (Reeves 2012;Szpunar 2016;Larsson 2017;Emerson 2019). These studies do not put emergency services and public discursive struggles center-stage; nevertheless, concepts such as vigilance, responsibilization, and activation are highly relevant and will be discussed in the following theory section.…”