The “Black Widow” media discourse: “desperation, irrationality and vendetta” in Dagestan

Krulisova, K ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8065-188X, 2016. The “Black Widow” media discourse: “desperation, irrationality and vendetta” in Dagestan. Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 10 (1), pp. 30-60. ISSN 1802-548X

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Abstract

This work examines how the media representation of the female self-martyrs of Dagestan and Chechnya, often dubbed “Black Widows”, portrays them as irrational, hysterical and/or desperate. The replication of the “Chechen Black Widow” narrative, applied to any female self-martyr striking on Russian soil, is clearly visible in both British and Russian media. This not only denies political agency to female attackers of Dagestani origin, but also attempts to dehumanise and demonize the entire group. By linking the bombers to unspecified “outside forces” and “Islamist” terrorism, any measures taken to suppress them, however harsh, are then justified to the public.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Central European Journal of International and Security Studies
Creators: Krulisova, K.
Publisher: Metropolitni Univerzita Praha
Date: 21 March 2016
Volume: 10
Number: 1
ISSN: 1802-548X
Rights: © 2016 CEJISS. Article is distributed under Open Access licence: Attribution - NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0).
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 27 Mar 2018 08:23
Last Modified: 01 Jun 2018 10:17
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33099

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