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“Syria’s Heart Eating Cannibal”: Producing and Consuming Incrimination Online
Abstract
In May 2013 footage of a Syrian rebel fighter mutilating the corpse of a Syrian soldier went viral on YouTube and social media. Such self-incriminating documentations of violence are not unique to the current war in Syria, other conflicts in the region, or to other postcolonial nation-states. Examples from current imperial and former colonial powers include the meticulous records the Nazi bureaucracy kept of those deemed by the state to be unworthy of belonging to the nation, and hence undeserving of life; postcards of lynching in the United States; and more recently, photographs taken by U.S. army reservists of prisoners they tortured in Abu Ghraib prison. An important difference between the first two and the second cases is that of medium—digital media versus print media. A digital file can be accessed around the world by anyone with a computer or a smartphone and an internet connection. This speed of dissemination raises new questions regarding representation and audience. Focusing on YouTube clips about Abu Sakkar, the Syrian rebel fighter this paper will explore the following questions: i) Who were these incriminatory videos clips produced by and for? ii) How does Abu Sakkar’s performance of violence in his own and bystanders’ ‘amateur’ videos compare with his self-presentation in his interviews with satellite news correspondents? iii) What tropes of nationalized gender and sexuality constitute these narrations of incrimination?
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Syria
Sub Area
Media