Jihadi Culture on the World Wide Web

by Ramsay, Gilbert

• ISBN13: 9781441175625
• ISBN10: 1441175628
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-10-10
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

This volume examines "jihadi" content on the Internet by drawing on both Arabic and English primary source materials. After examining this content as digital media, the work looks at how it is productively consumed by online communities, including how "jihadi" individuals construct themselves online and how jihadism is practiced and represented as an online activity. The work also discusses the consumption of such jihadi media by those who are hostile to radical Islam and the relation between fantasy, pleasure, ideology, and ordinary life. This unique survey features case studies, such as the cyberjihadi "Irhabi 007," pro-US and Israeli "patriots" who are often openly Islamophobic, and "Infovlad" --a forum that became the meeting place for radical Islamists and radical freelance "counter terrorists." This innovative approach to studying violent content on the Internet is a significant contribution to the literature that will appeal to anyone interested in political violence, terrorism, and political communication.

Author Biography

Gilbert Ramsay works at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, UK. An Arabic speaker, he has previously written reports on terrorism and the Internet for the United Nations and the European Union, and has various current and forthcoming publications on the subjects of jihadi-salafism and 'terrorist' use of the Internet.

Table of Contents

1. Jihadism and "Terrorism" on the Internet: Between the Information War and the Public Sphere \ 2. Building a New Approach: Consumption, "Cult," and Participatory Culture \ 3. What is Jihadi Media? \ 4. Geeking the Jihad: Jihadi Forums and Online Communities \ 5. Being (a) Jihadi on the Internet \ 6. Wolf Packs and War Porn: Anti-Jihadis and Jihadi-Connoisseurs Online \ 7. The Echo of Epic Battles: Fandom, Fantasy, and the Alternative Media Audience