Weaponizing Language
Discourse and the Construction of Violence
Will be published approx. on 6. August 2026
Book
Hardback
1 pages
978-1-6669-7049-4 (ISBN)
Description
This edited volume examines discourse and the construction of violence to investigate how language is weaponized to construct violence-priming and endorse discourses that enable terrorism, war, and other forms of conflict.
Contributors examine a variety of cases, including discourses rooted in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, white nationalism, and other ideological extremisms, to demonstrate how the ultimate aim of these discourses is to dehumanize groups and consolidate power. To offer an interdisciplinary perspective, contributors use approaches from a variety of fields, including communication and rhetoric, sociology, critical and cultural studies, political science, peace and conflict studies, and linguistics. The collection is split into three distinct aspects of weaponized language -- dehumanization and othering; justification of violence; and language as resistance.
Contributors examine a variety of cases, including discourses rooted in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, white nationalism, and other ideological extremisms, to demonstrate how the ultimate aim of these discourses is to dehumanize groups and consolidate power. To offer an interdisciplinary perspective, contributors use approaches from a variety of fields, including communication and rhetoric, sociology, critical and cultural studies, political science, peace and conflict studies, and linguistics. The collection is split into three distinct aspects of weaponized language -- dehumanization and othering; justification of violence; and language as resistance.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
10 tables
Dimensions
Height: 25 mm
Width: 25 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-6669-7049-4 (9781666970494)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Christian Vukasovich is Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Southern Maine.
Ramune Braziunaite is Lecturer in the School of Media & Communication at Bowling Green State University.
Ramune Braziunaite is Lecturer in the School of Media & Communication at Bowling Green State University.
Content
Introduction: Weaponizing Language
Christian Vukasovich & Ramune Braziunaite
Part I: Dehumanizing and Othering
1. The Power of Words: Deconstruction of a Stereotype How can the ancient Greek World help us understand gender discrimination?
Joana Pinto Salvador Costa
2. Female Representation in Drug Prevention Advertising Campaigns
Julio Rigoni
3. Anti-Feminist Cybernationalists in China: A Parasitic Public
Celine Liao with Chen Chen
4. Weaponizing language in Central and Eastern Europe: From the Dehumanization of the Slovak LGBTQI+ Community to an Act of Terrorism
Lubomir Zvada
5. Weaponizing language in wellness: How white power rhetoric has found a home in online wellness spaces
Alexandra N. Sousa
6. Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: White Supremacy Pageantry at 'Unite the Right
Christian Vukasovich
PaPart II: Justifying Violence
7. Rebels, Genocide, and Violence-Endorsing Language in Ethiopia
Behailu Mihirete
8. Shaping Realities Through Post-truth: Duterte's "War on Drugs" in the Philippines
Orville B. Tatcho
9. Influence of the Media in Reporting Religious Violence in Nigeria and its Psychological Implications
Odirin Omiegbe
10. State Violence in the Private Sphere: Punitive Home Demolitions in the OPT
Marya Farah
11. War Wor(l)ds: Putin's discursive path to invading Ukraine
Evgeniya Pyatovskaya
12. Misogyny, Sexual Violence, and 'Rape Rap' in the Indian Hip Hop Scene
Elloit Cardozo
13. The War on Terror, Detention Policies, and Torture of Detainees at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other Detention Facilities
Ramune Braziunaite
Part III: Language as Resistance
14. When Anti-Genocide Activism and Rhetoric become Violent: mediated and rhetorical contestations over genocide during Ethiopia's 2020-2022 war
Behailu Shiferaw Mihirete and Azeb N. Madebo
15. The Role of Traditional Oral Cultures and Political Discourses in the Preservation Endangered Languages: The Case of the Zazaki Language in Tuerkiye
Erhan Gueneysu
16. "Flying Palestinians" and Falling Fighters: (Re)Documenting and Personifying Palestinian Militant Resistance and its Dilemmas in the Freedom Theatre's The Siege
Soraya Abuelhiga
17. 'Disability Dialect:' Language as Resistance to the Structural Disenfranchising of the Disabled in the United States
Esther Heymans
About the Contributors
Index
Christian Vukasovich & Ramune Braziunaite
Part I: Dehumanizing and Othering
1. The Power of Words: Deconstruction of a Stereotype How can the ancient Greek World help us understand gender discrimination?
Joana Pinto Salvador Costa
2. Female Representation in Drug Prevention Advertising Campaigns
Julio Rigoni
3. Anti-Feminist Cybernationalists in China: A Parasitic Public
Celine Liao with Chen Chen
4. Weaponizing language in Central and Eastern Europe: From the Dehumanization of the Slovak LGBTQI+ Community to an Act of Terrorism
Lubomir Zvada
5. Weaponizing language in wellness: How white power rhetoric has found a home in online wellness spaces
Alexandra N. Sousa
6. Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: White Supremacy Pageantry at 'Unite the Right
Christian Vukasovich
PaPart II: Justifying Violence
7. Rebels, Genocide, and Violence-Endorsing Language in Ethiopia
Behailu Mihirete
8. Shaping Realities Through Post-truth: Duterte's "War on Drugs" in the Philippines
Orville B. Tatcho
9. Influence of the Media in Reporting Religious Violence in Nigeria and its Psychological Implications
Odirin Omiegbe
10. State Violence in the Private Sphere: Punitive Home Demolitions in the OPT
Marya Farah
11. War Wor(l)ds: Putin's discursive path to invading Ukraine
Evgeniya Pyatovskaya
12. Misogyny, Sexual Violence, and 'Rape Rap' in the Indian Hip Hop Scene
Elloit Cardozo
13. The War on Terror, Detention Policies, and Torture of Detainees at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other Detention Facilities
Ramune Braziunaite
Part III: Language as Resistance
14. When Anti-Genocide Activism and Rhetoric become Violent: mediated and rhetorical contestations over genocide during Ethiopia's 2020-2022 war
Behailu Shiferaw Mihirete and Azeb N. Madebo
15. The Role of Traditional Oral Cultures and Political Discourses in the Preservation Endangered Languages: The Case of the Zazaki Language in Tuerkiye
Erhan Gueneysu
16. "Flying Palestinians" and Falling Fighters: (Re)Documenting and Personifying Palestinian Militant Resistance and its Dilemmas in the Freedom Theatre's The Siege
Soraya Abuelhiga
17. 'Disability Dialect:' Language as Resistance to the Structural Disenfranchising of the Disabled in the United States
Esther Heymans
About the Contributors
Index