GIUV2021-498
Since June 2015, most European countries are one level below their maximum alert level in this area. For this reason, the threat of global terrorism has meant great obstacles and difficulties for the integration of the different cultures that coexist in Europe, in addition to the rejection of waves of migration from the Islamic world or impediments to economic activity. In this climate, the role of the media, cinema, photography, and television in creating an image of terrorism and its perpetrators becomes a phenomenon of capital interest (Aguilar, 1982: 152; Eco, 1986: 150; Dufour, 1986: 35-37). Therefore, research in this field is of great importance (Wieviorka, 1991: 75; Rodrigo, 1995; Veres 2016). This project aims to reflect on the role of the image as an element of propaganda and, in turn, as a creative element of an imaginary of crime and criminals that has sometimes given rise to ambiguity and indefinition. From the discourses from the sixties and seventies, represented in our project by ETA and the Red Brigades, to the threat of Islamist terrorism and the current cyberjihad, along with cases of indigenous platforms with violent attacks or narcoterrorism groups in Mexico,...Since June 2015, most European countries are one level below their maximum alert level in this area. For this reason, the threat of global terrorism has meant great obstacles and difficulties for the integration of the different cultures that coexist in Europe, in addition to the rejection of waves of migration from the Islamic world or impediments to economic activity. In this climate, the role of the media, cinema, photography, and television in creating an image of terrorism and its perpetrators becomes a phenomenon of capital interest (Aguilar, 1982: 152; Eco, 1986: 150; Dufour, 1986: 35-37). Therefore, research in this field is of great importance (Wieviorka, 1991: 75; Rodrigo, 1995; Veres 2016). This project aims to reflect on the role of the image as an element of propaganda and, in turn, as a creative element of an imaginary of crime and criminals that has sometimes given rise to ambiguity and indefinition. From the discourses from the sixties and seventies, represented in our project by ETA and the Red Brigades, to the threat of Islamist terrorism and the current cyberjihad, along with cases of indigenous platforms with violent attacks or narcoterrorism groups in Mexico, which question the authority of the State, attention has been focused on images of violence and its victims, without paying attention to the perpetrators, their story, their background, their universe of figures that make them protagonists in what is sometimes a glorious adventure, and, in other cases, criminal. Many of these examples have provided a variety of icons that range from subversion and the defender of freedom to the undisputed criminal linked to a barbaric operation. The influence of Latin American guerrillas and anti-colonialist movements facilitated the representation of the perpetrator as a legitimised agent of violence (Azcona and Re, 2015: Avilés, Azcona and Re, 2018). Thus, this study aims to set out its analysis within perpetrator studies, taking into account the role of representation and its links with the social and political context of each case and considering both the discourses created by the perpetrators themselves and the discourses generated by other sources. The study aims to explain the perpetrators' own representation of themselves and that which is provided by external entities, and at the same time, explain how their identity is based on the denial of the other and therefore how they use this for their own image. In the same way, it aims to explain the significance of that representation, as well as its circulation and durability over time. To this end, five case studies are proposed in chronological order: terrorism born in the seventies with the examples of ETA and the Red Brigades based on the images created by the terrorist group itself, as well as its representation in cinema and photography; current Islamist terrorism from Al-Qaeda to ISIS through video, cinema and photography; current indigenism in Chile and the use of organised violence in groups such as the Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco and its presence in documentary film and the press (Veres, 2016 and 2021); narcoterrorism in Mexico and the case of Chapo Guzmán (Díaz-Cerveró, 2018). Keywords: terrorism, perpetrators, image, cinema, propaganda.
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- The research we present is the result of a long and laborious scientific work by the main researcher and his members, which, although it has some milestones in the form of monographs and articles (two monographs on media in relation to terrorism, two monographs on documentary film and the criminalization of the Mapuche in Chile, several collective books on terrorism and communication and articles on partial issues and specific terrorisms ranging from ETA terrorism and Islamist terrorism to the Red Brigades in relation to film, passing through Shining Path or the case of the Mapuche indigenous people in Chile), is the first time that it achieves a structuring historicization and theorization in relation to the category of the perpetrator.
- The initial hypothesis posits that most images depicting terrorist perpetrators aim for maximum sensationalism or persuasive power. Therefore, a thorough analysis is necessary to uncover the mechanisms by which this imagery relates to the phenomenon. The intention is to conduct a specific study of selected cases using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, which can refine this current state of affairs. This is based on the fact that American films on this topic, well-produced videos by ISIS, and photographs of terrorist perpetrators from the 1970s are acting as a catalyst for recruiting many young people in Europe, drawn by the idealization of the conflict and its perpetrators. However, the initial hypothesis also aims to establish that a large portion of these images constitute a robust propaganda tool that contradicts the purposes for which they were created. The establishment of a Manichean worldview, where Americans are presented as liberators and the Arab world as a realm of evil, terrorism, and cruelty, does not correspond to reality. The world of the Basque guerrilla fighters of the 1970s has transformed its meaning and forged a reductionist discourse that has turned laudatory images into accusatory ones. For this reason, the project aims to analyze both the body of films on the subject and the propaganda disseminated in the form of videos and photographs appearing in the general press and publications produced by the perpetrators themselves.
- The project presented here aims to analyze a topic of profound significance, not only in the Hispanic world but also on the international stage: the representation of terrorism through the image of the perpetrator. Specifically, the project is structured around five key areas:
- 1. Current Arab terrorism and its impact on public image, from videos created by the perpetrators themselves to its representation in film since the 1960s, taking as a starting point The Battle of Algiers (1962). Presented by Doctors Veres, Sanchez, and Diaz. To this end, they will conduct a search in the repositories of the Memorial to Victims of Terrorism and the Islamic Library of the AECI in Madrid. Secondly, they will carry out more specific searches on Google and other search engines.
- 2. The representation of the image of the ETA terrorist perpetrator based on the multitude of images created by the terrorist group itself, as well as its representation in film and photography. This task is undertaken by Doctors Veres and Martinez through publications available in Lazkao and Vitoria.
- 3. In addressing other situations within the European context, the Italian case is examined, focusing on the presence of various terrorist groups such as the Red Brigades and Lotta Continua in magazines like Potere Operaio, Rosso, and Autonomia, and their iconic cult of representing violence, as well as their presence in Italian cinema since the 1960s (Veres, 2018). Doctors Veres and Re will analyze magazines and films in this area using the collections of the Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan and the Ettore Lucini Institute in Padua, which house unique copies of the complete collections of publications such as Potere Operaio, Lotta Continua, and Autonomia.
- 4. On the other hand, the Latin American situation is addressed through a study of contemporary indigenism in Chile, the presence of violence in groups such as the Arauco-Malleco Coordinating Platform, and its representation in documentary film, which flourished in Chile from the 1980s onward. This work is being carried out by Doctors Del Valle and Browne, based in Chile at the Center for Indigenous Studies in Temuco.
- 5. And finally, the project covers the use of the image in Mexico, led by Dr. Díaz Cerveró, from that double perspective of the image created by perpetrators and its subsequent iconic representation, which includes the trial of El Chapo Guzmán.
- Based on these five axes, the team members residing in Europe will conduct the corresponding bibliographic research during short stays, as previously mentioned, to address more specific objectives. The professors from Latin America will utilize their own documentation centers to work with the relevant bibliographic and documentary sources. Their primary documentation centers will be the Center for Indigenous Studies at the University of La Frontera in Temuco, as well as the newspaper archives of the Austral University of Chile and the Pan-American University of Guadalajara, Mexico. To achieve this comprehensive scope, the following objectives are proposed:
- 1. Analysis of the violence and massacres caused by terrorism and represented in images. 2. Study of how images circulate, are recoded, and are included in propaganda discourses or discourses without an initial political purpose. Analysis of different formats such as photography, film, and television, and their development and expansion over time. 3. Analysis of the different appreciation of images as discourse varies, their reuse, and the different spatial and national contextualization of these images, with the consequent re-semanticization of meaning. 4. Influence of these images on history, on the construction of historical discourse, and their self-serving use in constructing narratives and memory by distinguishing between heroes and villains, terrorists and freedom fighters. Social representation of reality: icons of conflict. 5. Analysis of hyperbole and spectacularization. Treatment of pain, of the victim and the perpetrator: processes of inversion. Actantial polarization and Manichaeism: criminalization of the enemy and role assignment. Treatment of pain, victim, and perpetrator: processes of inversion. Creation of the hero and the enemy through negative identity. Visual formulas of violence and criminalization. 6. Development of a list of stereotypes of perpetration in terrorism, both female and male, and visual formulas of violence and criminalization. Analysis from a gender perspective of the female stereotype and its possible use as a propaganda icon, as well as the presence of the LGBTI community in images related to terrorism. 7. Analysis of the sites of terrorist attacks and massacres, including memorials and commemorative images.
- Terrorism and communication.The aim is to study the phenomenon of terrorism through its representation in the media. This approach includes representations in the press, film, television, photography and video.
| Name | Nature of participation | Entity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| LUIS ENRIQUE VERES CORTES | Director | Universitat de València | |
| Research team | |||
| SEBASTIAN SANCHEZ CASTILLO | Collaborator | Universitat de València | |
| EMANUELE D'ARMARIO | Collaborator | Università di Firenze | PhD student from other entities |
| SERGIO ANDRES MORENO VALLE | Collaborator | Makma Cultural, S.L. | Researcher |
- Research and experimental development in the social sciencies and humanities
- Language Theory and Communication Sciences
- REPRESENTACIÓN
- FILM
- COMMUNICATION
- PHOTOGRAPHY
- TERRORISM
- JOURNALISM
- VIDEO
