Monuments of Terrorism: (De)Selecting Memory and Symbolic Exchange at the Interface Between Westminster and Raqqa.

Theodore Price

Monuments of Terrorism: (De)Selecting Memory and Symbolic Exchange at the Interface Between Westminster and Raqqa.

School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Contemporary conflict is conducted across multiple visual fronts, as the old visual symbols of conventional warfare and remembrance are increasingly replaced with digital images. Focusing on three events in the summer of 2015: the attack on tourists in Tunisia, the blowing up of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, and the construction of a replica of the destroyed Arch of Triumph from Palmyra in Trafalgar Square, London, this paper details the symbolic exchange between the so-called Islamic State and western governments. Through an examination of the visual representation of violence enacted towards individual holidaymakers and ancient tourist sites, this paper details how the attack on a holiday resort in Tuni- sia was recast through a master narrative of war where the military repatriation of civilians represented the dead tourists as fallen soldiers. It will examine the visual record of the destruction of the Temple of Bel, by the Islamic State (ISIS), arguing that this action gained international legitimacy through the validation and complicity of the visual frame provided by satellite images from the United Na- tions. Finally, it will discuss the replication of the Arch of Triumph, from Palmyra, in Trafalgar Square as a further example of the instrumentalisation of counter- iconoclasm.

Original language	English
Journal	Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies
Volume	16
Issue number	2
Publication status	Published - 2020

Access to Document

http://liminalities.net/16-2/monuments.pdf

Cite this

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title = "Monuments of Terrorism: (De)Selecting Memory and Symbolic Exchange at the Interface Between Westminster and Raqqa.",

abstract = "Contemporary conflict is conducted across multiple visual fronts, as the old visual symbols of conventional warfare and remembrance are increasingly replaced with digital images. Focusing on three events in the summer of 2015: the attack on tourists in Tunisia, the blowing up of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, and the construction of a replica of the destroyed Arch of Triumph from Palmyra in Trafalgar Square, London, this paper details the symbolic exchange between the so-called Islamic State and western governments. Through an examination of the visual representation of violence enacted towards individual holidaymakers and ancient tourist sites, this paper details how the attack on a holiday resort in Tuni- sia was recast through a master narrative of war where the military repatriation of civilians represented the dead tourists as fallen soldiers. It will examine the visual record of the destruction of the Temple of Bel, by the Islamic State (ISIS), arguing that this action gained international legitimacy through the validation and complicity of the visual frame provided by satellite images from the United Na- tions. Finally, it will discuss the replication of the Arch of Triumph, from Palmyra, in Trafalgar Square as a further example of the instrumentalisation of counter- iconoclasm.",

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