Image Munitions and the Continuation of War and Politics by Other Means

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Image Munitions and the Continuation of War and Politics by Other Means _________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses Image warfare in the war on terror: Image munitions and the continuation of war and politics by other means. Roger, Nathan Philip How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Roger, Nathan Philip (2010) Image warfare in the war on terror: Image munitions and the continuation of war and politics by other means.. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42350 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ Image warfare in the war on terror: Image munitions and the continuation of war and politics by other means Nathan Philip Roger Submitted to the University of Wales in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Swansea University 2010 ProQuest Number: 10798058 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10798058 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 LI2RARY Abstract This thesis argues that the image as circulated within society has changed from what is broadly conceived of as a mass media society to that of an information society or a rhizomatic condition. This discontinuity is linked to changes that have taken place both within technology and the ‘communications systems’ that make up the media. This is theorized as a move from the ‘mobilization of images’ to the ‘weaponization of images’ and it takes the following form: the mobilization of images is connected to a twentieth century notion of propaganda and the rise of a mass society; whereas the weaponizing of images is understood as emerging through a networked/rhizomatic society connected with new media. It has also resulted in a paradigm shift from techno-war to image warfare. More specifically, this thesis is about exploring how American and British governments and militaries are failing to manage image warfare because they are operating with an outdated understanding that it is possible to ‘control’ images; whereas A1 Qaeda appears to be understanding image warfare better. What I seek to show in this thesis is the disjuncture between this outdated idea of ‘controlling’ images (which Western governments and media continue to use) and a more dispersed or deterritorialized idea about how images operate in a rhizomatic condition. I explore this via my three conceptual terms: ‘image munitions’, ‘counter-image munitions’, ‘remediation battles’, with specific reference to the war on terror and specifically through four thematic case studies - political communications, suicides, executions and abuses - which allow exploration of different parts of this new theatre of war. In the conclusion I reflect on the implications of this analysis for understandings of contemporary and future warfare. Declarations and Statements DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ^ (NATHAN PHILIP ROGER) D ate.........0 .% la n l.W i:Q.................................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed _____________ 4 (NATHAN PHILIP ROGER) D ate .OA.jo.4./...^o.(.Q.................................... STAREMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (NATHAN PHILIP ROGER) Date Alj..0.6./...M(9................................... For my late Mum, my Dad and Brother Contents Preface and Acknowledgements 1 Abbreviations 6 Introduction 10 The Aesthetic Turn in International Relations 18 Chapter Summary 21 Chapter One War/Images and International Relations Theory 27 Introduction 27 Media Actors, Objects and Subjects 29 War and Images 40 Media and the Vietnam War 42 Media and the First Gulf War 45 Media and the Kosovo Conflict 49 Media and September 11, 2001 and the War on Terror 52 Images and Warfare in IR Theory 60 Conclusion 84 Chapter Two Theorising Image Warfare 87 Introduction 87 War Studies in the Age of Image Warfare 88 War and Propaganda in the Age of New Media 97 Theorising Postmodern War 105 Theorising Image Warfare 108 Image Munitions 118 Counter-Image Munitions 122 Remediation Battles 123 Circulating Flag Raising at Iwo Jima and The Unknown Rebel (or Tank Man) 125 Methodology 129 Conclusion 136 Chapter Three Political Communications 139 Introduction 139 ‘The Oval Office’ and ‘ 10 Downing Street’ 140 Mediated Contact with Osama bin Laden 148 Circulating bin Laden’s Image 161 Conclusion 169 Chapter Four Suicides 171 Introduction 171 Conceptualising A1 Qaeda’s Suicide Terrorism 173 September 11, 2001 and United Airlines Flight 93 178 The 9/11 Suicide Video Wills 183 Iraq, 7/7 and 21/7 186 The July 7th Suicide Video Wills 191 Circulating Suicide Terrorism Footage 194 Conclusion 205 Chapter Five Executions 207 Introduction 207 Hijackings and Hostage-takings in History 208 From Hijacking to Hostage-taking 212 Visualizing Contemporary Hostages 219 Circulating Hostage Images 234 Hunting, Killing and Circulating Uday and Qusay Hussein 237 Hunt/Capture/Trial/Execution and Circulation of Saddam Hussein 241 Conclusion 251 Chapter Six Abuses 254 Introduction 254 Conceptualizing War Abuses 256 Abu Ghraib: A New Visibility 264 Abu Ghraib: Image Munitions 268 Circulating Abu Ghraib 275 Guantanamo Bay and Extraordinary Rendition 284 Circulating Guantanamo Bay and Extraordinary Rendition 290 The Faked Abuse Images and Camp Breadbasket Abuses 295 Abuse Images and the ‘Own Goal Effect’ 300 Conclusion 306 Conclusion 309 Bibliography 319 Preface and Acknowledgements As this thesis will explore the journeys of some of the most powerful images in the war on terror, it makes sense to first give a general outline of the journey taken in the production of this thesis. The images of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks - images of planes flying into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, images of people falling to their deaths from the WTC, images of the towers collapsing and more - were shocking. I was on a break from a summer maintenance job at my old school (earning some money before starting university) when someone came into the maintenance office and turned the television on. Almost two weeks later I enrolled as an Undergraduate in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Professor Ken Booth’s welcome address was confirmation that 9/11 was going to be a dominant theme in the Interpol Department (and International Relations internationally) for the foreseeable future. I watched the start of the war in Afghanistan, the airing of bin Laden videos, Western responses to these videos and the start of the 2003 Iraq War all unfold on my television in my student accommodation. I particularly remember the ‘Saving of Jessica Lynch’; the fall of Saddam Hussein’s statue in central Baghdad; President Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ speech; and the mediated images of the corpses of Uday and Qusay Hussein. During the Easter break of my first year I travelled to Zanzibar to teach English and Civics at a village school, whilst there I took a few of our students to Stone Town (the capital of Zanzibar) where we visited The House of Wonders (Beit el Ajaib) Museum of History and Culture of Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast. The House of Wonders has had a varied history. In the nineteenth century it was the ceremonial palace of the Sultan Barghash. Today it is a museum. When I visited it was hosting a travelling exhibition of the American photographer Joel Meyerowitz’s images from ‘Ground Zero’, one stop on a global tour of over sixty countries. After 1 September 11: Images From Ground Zero 1 was supported by the US State Department, local American
Recommended publications
  • Off the Pedestal, on the Stage: Animation and De-Animation in Art
    Off the Pedestal; On the Stage Animation and De-animation in Art and Theatre Aura Satz Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London PhD in Fine Art 2002 Abstract Whereas most genealogies of the puppet invariably conclude with robots and androids, this dissertation explores an alternative narrative. Here the inanimate object, first perceived either miraculously or idolatrously to come to life, is then observed as something that the live actor can aspire to, not necessarily the end-result of an ever evolving technological accomplishment. This research project examines a fundamental oscillation between the perception of inanimate images as coming alive, and the converse experience of human actors becoming inanimate images, whilst interrogating how this might articulate, substantiate or defy belief. Chapters i and 2 consider the literary documentation of objects miraculously coming to life, informed by the theology of incarnation and resurrection in Early Christianity, Byzantium and the Middle Ages. This includes examinations of icons, relics, incorrupt cadavers, and articulated crucifixes. Their use in ritual gradually leads on to the birth of a Christian theatre, its use of inanimate figures intermingling with live actors, and the practice of tableaux vivants, live human figures emulating the stillness of a statue. The remaining chapters focus on cultural phenomena that internalise the inanimate object’s immobility or strange movement quality. Chapter 3 studies secular tableaux vivants from the late eighteenth century onwards. Chapter 4 explores puppets-automata, with particular emphasis on Kempelen's Chess-player and the physical relation between object-manipulator and manipulated-object. The main emphasis is a choreographic one, on the ways in which live movement can translate into inanimate hardness, and how this form of movement can then be appropriated.
    [Show full text]
  • United States District Court for the District of Columbia
    UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER, AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS FOUNDATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION, and FREEDOM TO READ FOUNDATION, Civil Action Plaintiffs, No. 02-CV-2077 (ESH) v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendant. MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ CROSS-MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT DAVID L. SOBEL D.C. Bar No. 360418 Electronic Privacy Information Center 1718 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 ANN BEESON JAMEEL JAFFER American Civil Liberties Union Foundation 125 Broad St. New York, NY 10004 ARTHUR B. SPITZER D.C. Bar No. 235960 American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area 1400 20th St., N.W. #119 Washington, DC 20036 Counsel for Plaintiffs INTRODUCTION In this action, Plaintiffs challenge the government's refusal to disclose aggregate, statistical data concerning implementation of controversial new surveillance powers authorized by Congress in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. These new powers raise potentially serious implications for constitutionally protected rights and, accordingly, there is widespread public concern about their scope and implementation. Plaintiffs filed this litigation after defendant Department of Justice (“DOJ”) failed to respond expeditiously to a request under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552. The request sought records related to Defendant’s implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act (“Patriot Act” or “Act”), Pub. L. No. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272 (Oct. 26, 2001), legislation that dramatically expanded the government’s authority to engage in intrusive surveillance of people living in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Report 2012
    Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program Annual Report Model November 30, 2012 Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program CFDA 84.345 Project Name: Beneath the Underground and Beyond - The Flight to Freedom and Antebellum Communities in Maryland, 1830 - 1880: Resistance Along the Eastern Shore. Project Number: P345A105002 Project Director’s Name: Chris Haley Project Financial Manager’s Name: Nassir Resvan FY 2011 (October 2011 - September 30, 2012 Annual Report As per the URR Program’s Authorizing Legislation, The Maryland State Archives submits, for this fiscal year in which the organization received URR Program funding this report to the Secretary of Education that contains-- (A) A description of the programs and activities supported by the funding: • Using URR funds, the Maryland State Archives supported the work of its varied stakeholders of researchers, historians, curators and archivists by mining and making electronically accessible all the topics listed below: 1. Federal Census - Mining of the US Federal Census from the years 1830 - 1880 for the counties of Queen Anne, Kent and Dorchester Counties for all entries pertaining to free and enslaved Blacks - Census record mining involves the extraction of biographical data such as name, sex, age, race designation (Black or Mulatto), County District or Precinct, occupation, personal and real estate value and household status and entering that information into a searchable online database. Such information provides invaluable data for family historians, genealogists, scholars and historians whose research and subsequent products involve African American life during Maryland's 19th century before and after the Civil War. Due to funding from this grant, the Archives has been able to accumulate the following totals for the aforementioned counties: Federal Census Entries Year Queen Anne Kent Dorchester Total: 1830/1840 1,762 3,251 5,013 1850/1860 3 5,601 8,711 8,714 1870/1880 2,118 3,861 2,231 8,210 Total: 2,121 11,224 14,193 27,538 2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pearl Incident Packet
    Handout 2 Student Name: _____________________________________ Date: ____________ Teacher:___________________________________________ Class Period: ____ The Pearl Incident Source Packet Document A Source: Excerpted from Daniel Drayton’s “Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton: For four years and four months a prisoner (for charity’s sake) in Washington jail” (1855). Retrieved from Library of Congress. Headnote: Daniel Drayton was the commander of the schooler The Pearl. He was an oyster fisherman who did not own this boat. He paid to borrow it from another man, name unknown, to complete the mission. It is said that Drayton had completed a mission to free enslaved people before, but demanded more and more payment for that mission. He was paid $100 dollars (a large sum for the time) to complete this mission. “Passing along the street, I met Captain Sayres, and knowing that he was sailing a small bay-craft, called The Pearl, and learning from him that business was dull with him, I proposed the enterprise to him...Captain Sayres engaged in this enterprise merely as a matter of business. I, too, was to be paid for my time and trouble,—an offer which the low state of my pecuniary (financial) affairs, and the necessity of supporting my family, did not allow me to decline. But this was not, by any means, my sole or principal motive. I undertook it out of sympathy for the enslaved, and from my desire to do something to further the cause of universal liberty. Such being the different ground upon which Sayres and myself stood, I did not think it necessary
    [Show full text]
  • Christmas Stars Many Use the Coco-Cola Advert As Their Favourite First Sign of Christmas but at St
    December 2018 Christmas Stars Many use the Coco-Cola advert as their favourite first sign of Christmas but at St. Ed’s it is always our Nativity performances that signal Christmas is on its way! This year, our traditional nativity was performed by our Form 1 and Form 2 children who entertained their proud audience with an array of new festive songs including ‘A Great Big Star’ and “It’s a squash, it’s a squeeze”. #St. Ed’s defies anybody who left the Chapel that day without a tear in their eye! The following day it was our Early Years children who turned the Chapel into a winter wonderland of animals helping Rudolph who had lost his nose! After all of the animals kindly offered Rudolph alternatives, including a carrot and a star, it was Mr Walliker himself who saved the day as Rudolph’s nose appeared in his pocket! Thank Christmas for Mr Walliker! Congratulations to our Ties! Welcome Many congratulations to Ella Chauhan, Madelaine Murrin, Jake Paterson, Guy van Baby Michael Oudtshoorn and Erin Wilson who were awarded their Prefect “ties” this term. Voted for by the school staff, the “ties” role is to support the Heads of Prep Mr Church School, Kitty and Freddie, and assume particular responsibilities in and around the and his wife school. Quoting Churchill, “the price of greatness is responsibility” so well done Jitka are to you all for your more than deserving recognition. delighted to announce the birth of their son, Michael who arrived in this world on Saturday 17th November at 8.00 am weighing in at 8 lbs.
    [Show full text]
  • Blogging Glossary
    Blogging Glossary Glossary: General Terms Atom: A popular feed format developed as an alternative to RSS. Autocasting: Automated form of podcasting that allows bloggers and blog readers to generate audio versions of text blogs from RSS feeds. Audioblog: A blog where the posts consist mainly of voice recordings sent by mobile phone, sometimes with some short text message added for metadata purposes. (cf. podcasting) Blawg: A law blog. Bleg: An entry in a blog requesting information or contributions. Blog Carnival: A blog article that contains links to other articles covering a specific topic. Most blog carnivals are hosted by a rotating list of frequent contributors to the carnival, and serve to both generate new posts by contributors and highlight new bloggers posting matter in that subject area. Blog client: (weblog client) is software to manage (post, edit) blogs from operating system with no need to launch a web browser. A typical blog client has an editor, a spell-checker and a few more options that simplify content creation and editing. Blog publishing service: A software which is used to create the blog. Some of the most popular are WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type and Joomla. Blogger: Person who runs a blog. Also blogger.com, a popular blog hosting web site. Rarely: weblogger. Blogirl: A female blogger Bloggernacle: Blogs written by and for Mormons (a portmanteau of "blog" and "Tabernacle"). Generally refers to faithful Mormon bloggers and sometimes refers to a specific grouping of faithful Mormon bloggers. Bloggies: One of the most popular blog awards. Blogroll: A list of other blogs that a blogger might recommend by providing links to them (usually in a sidebar list).
    [Show full text]
  • Final Report 2011
    Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program Annual Report Model November 30, 2012 Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program CFDA 84.345 Project Name: Beneath the Underground and Beyond - The Flight to Freedom and Antebellum Communities in Maryland, 1830 - 1880: Resistance Along the Eastern Shore. Project Number: P345A105002 Project Director’s Name: Chris Haley Project Financial Manager’s Name: Nassir Resvan FY 2011 (October 2010 - September 30, 2011 Annual Report As per the URR Program’s Authorizing Legislation, The Maryland State Archives submits, for this fiscal year in which the organization received URR Program funding this report to the Secretary of Education that contains-- (A) A description of the programs and activities supported by the funding: • Using URR funds, the Maryland State Archives supported the work of its varied stakeholders of researchers, historians, curators and archivists by mining and making electronically accessible all the topics listed below: 1. Federal Census - Federal Census from the years 1830 - 1880 for the counties of Caroline, Queen Anne and Dorchester County for all entries pertaining to free and enslaved Blacks - Census record mining involves the extraction of biographical data such as name, sex, age, race designation (Black or Mulatto), County District or Precinct, occupation, personal and real estate value and household status and entering that information into a searchable online database. Such information provides invaluable data for family historians, genealogists, scholars and historians whose research and subsequent products involve African American life during Maryland's 19th century before and after the Civil War. Due to funding from this grant, the Archives has been able to accumulate the following totals for the aforementioned counties: Federal Census Entries Year Caroline Queen Anne Dorchester Total 1830/1840 1,282 1,045 1,592 3,919 1850/1860 5,583 6,626 3,914 16,123 1870/1880 7,900 1 13,667 21,568 Total: 14,765 7,672 19,173 41,610 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Suleiman Complaint
    1 La Rond Baker, WSBA No. 43610 2 [email protected] AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION 3 901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 630 4 Seattle, WA 98164 Phone: 206-624-2184 5 6 Steven M. Watt (pro hac vice pending) Dror Ladin (pro hac vice pending) 7 Hina Shamsi (pro hac vice pending) 8 Jameel Jaffer (pro hac vice pending) AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION 9 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor 10 New York, New York 10004 11 Paul Hoffman (pro hac vice pending) 12 Schonbrun Seplow Harris & Hoffman, LLP 723 Ocean Front Walk, Suite 100 13 Venice, CA 90291 14 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 15 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 17 18 SULEIMAN ABDULLAH SALIM, MOHAMED AHMED BEN SOUD, OBAID 19 ULLAH (AS PERSONAL 20 REPRESENTATIVE OF GUL RAHMAN), Civil Action No. 21 Plaintiffs, 22 v. COMPLAINT AND 23 DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL 24 JAMES ELMER MITCHELL and JOHN “BRUCE” JESSEN 25 26 Defendants. 27 COMPLAINT AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES Page | 1 UNION OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION 901 Fifth Ave, Suite 630 Seattle, WA 98164 (206) 624-2184 1 I. INTRODUCTION 2 1. Defendants James Elmer Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen are 3 4 psychologists who designed, implemented, and personally 5 administered an experimental torture program for the U.S. Central 6 Intelligence Agency (“CIA”). 7 8 2. To create a torture program with a scientific veneer, Defendants drew 9 on experiments from the 1960s in which researchers taught dogs 10 “helplessness” by subjecting them to uncontrollable pain. Defendants 11 12 theorized that if human beings were subjected to systematic abuse, the 13 victims would become helpless and unable to resist an interrogator’s 14 demand for information.
    [Show full text]
  • 216631157.Pdf
    The Alternative Media Handbook ‘Alternative media’ are media produced by the socially, culturally and politically e xcluded: they are always independently run and often community-focused, ranging from pirate radio to activist publications, from digital video experiments to ra dical work on the Web. The Alternative Media Handbook explores the many and dive rse media forms that these non-mainstream media take. The Alternative Media Hand book gives brief histories of alternative radio, video and lm, press and activity on the Web, then offers an overview of global alternative media work through nu merous case studies, before moving on to provide practical information about alt ernative media production and how to get involved in it. The Alternative Media H andbook includes both theoretical and practical approaches and information, incl uding sections on: • • • • • • • • successful fundraising podcasting blogging publishing pitch g a project radio production culture jamming access to broadcasting. Kate Coyer is an independent radio producer, media activist and post-doctoral re search fellow with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of P ennsylvania and Central European University in Budapest. Tony Dowmunt has been i nvolved in alternative video and television production since 1975 and is now cou rse tutor on the MA in Screen Documentary at Goldsmiths, University of London. A lan Fountain is currently Chief Executive of European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), a professional development programme for lm and television producers. He was the rst Commissioning Editor for Independent Film and TV at Channel Four, 198 1–94. Media Practice Edited by James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London The Media Practice hand books are comprehensive resource books for students of media and journalism, and for anyone planning a career as a media professional.
    [Show full text]
  • Guantánamo and Its Aftermath
    Guantánamo and Its Aftermath u.s. detention and interrogation practices and their impact on former detainees November 2008 Human Rights Center International Human Rights Law Clinic In partnership with University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley Center for Constitutional Rights Guantánamo and Its Aftermath u.s. detention and interrogation practices and their impact on former detainees Laurel E. Fletcher Eric Stover with Stephen Paul Smith Alexa Koenig Zulaikha Aziz Alexis Kelly Sarah Staveteig Nobuko Mizoguchi November 2008 Human Rights Center University of California, Berkeley International Human Rights Law Clinic University of California, Berkeley, School of Law In partnership with Center for Constitutional Rights ISBN# 978-0-9760677-3-3 Human Rights Center and International Human Rights Law Clinic, University of California, Berkeley Cover photos: Louie Palu/ZUMA Design: Melanie Doherty Design, San Francisco Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley The Human Rights Center promotes human rights and international justice worldwide and trains the next generation of human rights researchers and advocates. We believe that sustainable peace and devel- opment can be achieved only through efforts to prevent human rights abuses and hold those responsible for such crimes accountable. We use empirical research methods to investigate and expose serious viola- tions of human rights and international humanitarian law. In our studies and reports, we recommend specific policy measures that should be taken by governments and international organizations to protect vulnerable populations in times of war and political and social upheaval. For more information, please visit hrc.berkeley.edu. International Human Rights Law Clinic, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law The International Human Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC) designs and implements innovative human rights projects to advance the struggle for justice on behalf of individuals and marginalized communities through advocacy, research, and policy development.
    [Show full text]
  • State of Scholarship on Weblogs Definition of Weblogs
    Introduction: Weblogs, Rhetoric, Community, and Culture Laura Gurak, Smiljana Antonijevic, Laurie Johnson, Clancy Ratliff, and Jessica Reyman, University of Minnesota State of scholarship on weblogs During the past two decades, we have witnessed the introduction of many new digital spaces for writing and communicating, from hypertext, to chat rooms, to newsgroups, to discussion boards, to MOOS and MUDs, to wikis, to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The proliferation of new spaces for communicating via the Internet has evoked scholarship in the fields of communication, rhetoric, composition, and writing studies from researchers seeking to address the social, rhetorical, and discursive implications. Recently, there has emerged a new object for study of great rhetorical impact: the weblog. The scholarly exploration of weblogs is still new, having up to this point taken place at primarily at conferences. Some examples include Computers and Writing 2003 and 2004, Conference on College Composition and Communication 2004, the Association of Internet Researchers 2003, and Harvard Law School's BloggerCon, a conference devoted to "the art and science of weblogs." At these conferences, scholars have recognized that blogs are more than mere tools for communicating online; rather, they provide new possibilities for the Internet as a rhetorical space. Blogs, some would argue, have revolutionized the way we receive information and connect with each other in online environments. Enthusiasts claim that blogs allow anyone's voice to be heard and resist hierarchical modes of information dissemination and communication. While this idealist egalitarian model of the Internet has often been criticized, we find value in the power of blogs to forego the institutionalization of communicative practices and offer spaces for writing that are more collaboratively constructed than other online spaces, as bloggers freely link to, comment on, and augment each other's content.
    [Show full text]
  • SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY Fabiana Crespo 9 Shanxi
    SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY Fabiana Crespo 9 Shanxi Road (N), Lane 8, The Riverside, Tower 2, Room 2202, Shanghai [email protected] Memory,Values, Light, Akasha, Love, Peace ABSTRACT How to consolidate all my experiences, and how can I explain it to make it yours? Since I was a child I went through several unique experiences that I could only start to understand a few years back: -The experience of being dead for a short while. -The experience of being one with nature. -The experience of meditation in many ways: Tao, Vipassana, Raja Yoga, Tracendental, Tantra,… -The experience of seeing a person in front of you that you feel is another you, you can see yourself on him/her. -The experience when you lose yourself in running. -The experience of Self-help group energy that gives answers. -The experience of this feeling deep inside my gut, that happened at the same moment a loved one died. -The experience of communicating with loved ones at the same time in different parts of the world. -The experience listening binaural and isochronic bits with a certain rhythm. -The experience of feeling pure and fluent “LOVE”. And many more experiences, that have been a lot. And the more I have the more I realize that everything goes to the same end: “ONENESS”, WE ARE ALL ONE. This project is about connecting Science and Spirituality. Although we still can’t explain everything about spirituality in a scientific way. Year after year we have more and more scientific answers for the spiritual phenomena. And not having still all of the answers, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
    [Show full text]