Mobile Death Videos in Protest Movements: Cases from Iran and Syria

Kirjoittajat

  • Mareike Meis Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Abstrakti

In the Iranian and Syrian protest movements, the emergence of videos of dying protest participants recorded by mobile phones and disseminated via social platforms (esp. YouTube) have played a significant role in mobilizing and solidarizing the broader public for these movements. In this regard, several questions on the broader effects of such media phenomena in protest and conflict contexts arise; e.g., on how mobile videos recording death are perceived and construed in different media and public contexts, and which implications the prevalence of such videos brings about for the public perception and interpretation of the Iranian and Syrian protests and conflicts. The article presents an explorative study on two mobile death videos that appeared in course of the Iranian and Syrian protests and conflicts: the mobile video of Neda Agha-Soltan’s death in Iran and the mobile video of a man filming his own death in Syria. Special emphasis is given to the discursive and media-aesthetical effects of these mobile death videos by focusing on their symbolic and representational impact, the affectivity of these recordings of death, and the discursive and aesthetical practices in bringing forward certain accounts on the protest and conflict reality in Iran and Syria.

Kirjoittajan esittely

Mareike Meis, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Mareike Meis is a research assistant at the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (Institut für Friedenssicherungsrecht und humanitäres Völkerrecht (IFHV)) at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. At IFHV, she coordinates the NOHA Joint European Master Programme in International Humanitarian Action. After completing her master’s degree in Media Studies and Social Psychology in October 2012, she started to work on her Ph.D. thesis at the Institute for Media Studies (Faculty of Philology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum). In her Ph.D. thesis, she focuses on the discourse and aesthetics of a digitalized revolution in context of the Iranian and Syrian conflicts and crises. Since 2007, she has worked largely on the role of media in war and conflict as well as in protests and social movements. Her main areas of research are: new media in crises and conflicts, social movements in the Middle East and North Africa, the aesthetics of new media, discourse theory and analysis, humanitarian crises research, the media’s role in war and genocide, and the social psychology of violence. 

Tiedostolataukset

Julkaistu

2023-08-09