The land of the two rivers under the black banner: Visual communication of al-Qa῾ida in Iraq

Günther, Christoph

doi:10.1386/ijcis.8.1.35_1

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Symbolically, ISIS also advances under a black flag, which has long been considered a prophetic symbol of Islam's advance in the world (Gunther, 2014). In one iteration of its English-language magazine, ISIS has shown its flag flying over well-known buildings and parts of the world, such as the Vatican (Roche, 2017).…”

Section: The Backstorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unthinkable to Acceptable: How Stories can make Controversial Ideas More Mainstream

Underation¹,

Graf²

2020

AJMMC

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Though it has recently fallen on difficult times though the loss of land the death of its leader, The Islamic State is a brand of Islam that styles itself as the new caliphate. ISIS fights for the liberation of the Sunni faithful and claims to be the leader of the world's Muslim population. Westerners and others who oppose ISIS have used a good deal of ink trying to explain what gives this group its power to engage the imagination-is it the extreme violence it uses on the battlefield, or is it the fact that they have boldly claimed a new caliphate and that it is obligatory for the world's Muslims to support them? This paper argues that the power of ISIS comes from the stories it tells. These stories are assessed according to the paradigm of Jim Signorelli's StoryBranding, which explains how stories can become powerful tools of persuasion that create loyal, committed followers that make lasting brands.

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Section: The Backstorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(pp. 119-120) Picking up on this theme, Christoph Gunther (2014) writes that the attack on Islam means ISIS's actions cannot be defensive, they must be offensive. ISIS believes today's Muslims are "under siege and they have to actively fight back in order to renovate the Islamic mission" (p. 42).…”

Section: The Isis Inner Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

Unthinkable to Acceptable: How Stories can make Controversial Ideas More Mainstream

Underation¹,

Graf²

2020

AJMMC

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Presenting the Glossy Look of Warfare in Cyberspace – The Islamic State's Magazine Dabiq

Günther¹

2015

CyberOrient

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Since Ramadān 1435 (June/July 2014), the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (dawlat al-islāmiyya, IS), the ‘State of the Caliphate’ (dawlat al-khilāfa), publishes a periodic magazine entitled Dabiq. This glossy outlet, produced and distributed by al-Hayāt, one of the movement's media organizations, is widely disseminated on the Internet and forms part of IS's advancement in the field of the media. Published in English and other European languages, it allows the movement to spread its messages to an international audience. This article analyzes and evaluates four issues of Dabiq published in English between June and October 2014.It argues that three aspects are crucial for framing the ideological justification of the movement's warfare and help to rally support for their state-building project: the development and establishment of images of the enemy, the notion of ‘strangeness,’ and the call for emigration. Within this framework, the magazine intertwines textual and visual accounts of the movement's physical and virtual battlefields and mediates these to a non-Arab speaking public. Thus, Dabiq is – chronologically, technologically, and ideologically – the most recent and very well elaborated attempt of the Islamic State at winning support among the broadest public possible on a global level. The article concludes that the magazine at large and the abovementioned aspects reflect both the ideological structure of the movement and its current situation in Iraq and Syria. Utilizing derogative images of their enemies helps the Islamic State both to maintain its claim for legitimacy and to position their adherents and opponents within a dichotomous ideological framework. On this basis, it calls its followers to immigrate to the land of the two rivers and the Levant in order to support the establishment of an Islamic State and eradicate nation state borders.

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Media jihad: What PR can learn in Islamic State’s public relations masterclass

Galloway

2016

Public Relations Review

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The land of the two rivers under the black banner: Visual communication of al-Qa῾ida in Iraq

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Unthinkable to Acceptable: How Stories can make Controversial Ideas More Mainstream

Unthinkable to Acceptable: How Stories can make Controversial Ideas More Mainstream

Presenting the Glossy Look of Warfare in Cyberspace – The Islamic State's Magazine Dabiq

Media jihad: What PR can learn in Islamic State’s public relations masterclass

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