| Review |
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Language wars: The role of media and culture in global terror and political
violence Jeff Lewis London, Pluto Press, 2005 |
| I found this a very lucid and stimulating
book to read. Lewis brings his experience and knowledge of cultural studies
(Cultural studies: The basics, Sage, 2002) to present a sophisticated
and nuanced analysis of the place of media in the construction of particular
global actions as terrorist subversions of legitimate state order and
control. Lewis analyses the contradictions and hypocrisies inherent in this
construction. He identifies the inherent contradictions in the critique of
violent actions of minority groups by nation states which are themselves
involved in self-authorized acts of violence. Lewis grounds his analysis in
the concept of language wars, the struggle by different centers of power to
gain dominance through commanding the construction of reality within the
interplay of representation of symbols and language. Central to Lewis's
perspective is the concept that "culture becomes a contingency of language
wars by which various individuals and social formations struggle for
discursive attention and primacy within a politically constituted 'mediasphere'."
(p.10) The identification of discursive contest as a fundamental element of political engagement and struggle provides the mechanism for a serious consideration of the relationship between global media and political struggle in the contemporary world. The language of terrorism, as a political and policy framing of acts such as 9/11, the Iraq War and the bombings in Bali, meshes with the violent nature of televisual programming. "The televisualisation of violence confronts viewers with a miasma of emoti0onal and psychological effects within a familiar narrative of moral-ideological conflict. The viewer, entranced by the horror and excitement of the drama, is inevitably seduced by the possibility of heroic restoration, the conquest of good over evil, order over chaos." (p.42) The whole discourse of terrorism, therefore, becomes an extension of media's preference for language of chaos and restored order, violence and resolution. Terrorism as a concept has succeeded and been taken up in the contest to define subversive political actions because it speaks the language of the media. The first two chapters of the book provide a valuable theoretical construction of this perspective. Within this perspective, Lewis explores the correspondence and contradictions of this singular language with the complexities of the political contexts of actions like 9/11, the Iraq Invasion, the Bali Bombings and global Jihad, and the occupation of Iraq. His aim, he notes, is a modest one: "to reconcile differences rather than resolve or expunge them. The disputes and contentiousness which are inscribed in language and culture are not to be averted or occluded within a saccarine triumphalism...They are to be released through the fundamental practice of cultural expressivity which resists a recourse to violence, terror and the suppression of community." (p.265) This is a limited view - that resolution of these actions born of deprivation and despair is to be found in "a new and invigorated language of compassion and care." But it is consistent with the analytical framework adopted throughout the book. This aside, the book is an excellent analysis of the place of language in the construction of political action, and the indispensable place of te mediasphere as the football ground upon which this global game is played. Those interested in media and religion will find this book valuable for its nuanced and insightful analysis of the place of religion in the construction of social, cultural and political meaning and action. Table of Contents: Review by Peter Horsfield |