The Islamic Imagery Project: Visual Motifs in Jihadi Internet Propaganda
http://ctc.usma.edu/imagery/imagery.asp
18 Jan 2008
The Combating Terrorism Center, Dept. of Social Sciences, US Miltary Academy, West Point, NY, US
Self-description:
"The Internet is a critical means of communication for the newest generation of terrorist groups. The salafi jihadi movement in particular has used the Internet to pass strategic, operational, and tactical instruction to its followers, becoming adept at utilizing the anonymity and global reach of online communications to promote its message. Visual imagery provides a key aspect of the terrorists' message in that it allows these groups to paint a picture of their objectives, their enemies, and their strategy through graphics, photographs, and symbols. The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has provided an open source catalogue of these images and their meaning. The Islamic Imagery Project: Visual Motifs in Jihadi Internet Propaganda [2006?] provides analyses for one-hundred key motifs that appear throughout the jihadists' visual propaganda. It is our hope that this project will be useful to scholars and practitioners alike. We welcome comments and feedback.
The report is available in two formats: for browser viewing or as a .pdf. [...] The work for this project was done by the team of faculty members in the Combating Terrorism Center [..., namely:] Mr. Jarret Brachman, Ms. Lianne Kennedy-Boudali, Mr. Afshon Ostovar, and Mr. Chris Hefflefinger."
Site contents:
INTRODUCTION; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;
PART I - NATURE: * Sun (Sun, figurative; Sun, literal); * Moon (Moon, general; White Crescent; White Crescent in Sky; Green Crescent); * Water (Water Drop; Body of Water in Background; Waterfall; Water, figurative); * Flora (Flowers, general; White Rose; Red Rose / Red Flowers; Palm Tree; Greenery, general); * Landscapes (Mountains, literal; Mountains, figurative; Sandy Desert; Rocky Desert); * Animals (Lion, general; Lion, figurative; Lion with Jihadi Leaders; Lion, literal and figurative; Horse, general; Horse Herd; Horse with Rider and Jihadi Leader; Horse with Rider and Black Flag; Horse with Rider and White Flag; Horse with Rider and Sword; White Horse; Falcon; Eagle; Snake; Camel; Dove); * Weather and Storms;
PART II - GEOGRAPHY, POLITICAL SYMBOLS, AND STATES: * Globe/World (Globe, literal; Globe, figurative); * States (States, general; State with Battle Flag; Afghanistan; Iraq; Italy; Kashmir; Kuwait; Palestine; Saudi Arabia); * Flags, Currencies, and Foreign Symbols (White Flag - al-liwaa; Green Flag, general; Green Flag, Saudi; Flags Combined; American Flag; Stars and Stripes; American Flag with Star of David; Star of David; British Flag; Foreign Currency; Inverted Currency); * Holy Places (Holy Places, general; Dome of the Rock; Al-Aqsa Mosque; Kaaba); * Significant Events (Important Defeats; Important Victories);
PART III - PEOPLE: * Political Leaders (Jihadi Religious/Strategic Leaders; Jihadi Operational Leaders; Jihadi Leader: Osama bin Laden; Jihadi Leader: Khattab; Non-Muslim Political Leaders; Muslim Political Leaders); * Martyrs (Martyr, general; Martyr in Frame; Martyr with Country; Martyrs, 9/11; Martyr with Koran and Weapons; Female Martyr); * Women; * Children);
PART IV - WEAPONS, WARFARE AND THE AFTERLIFE: * The Afterlife (The Path of the Koran; Paradise, the Heavenly Garden; Hell for Enemies of Jihad; The Black Flag, al-raya); * Weapons (Weapon, pre-modern; Weapon, modern; Weapon combination; Crossed Weapons); * Blood (Bloody Sword; Blood, Martyr & State; Blood on Desert; Bloody Text);
PART V - OTHER: * Colors (Black; Blue; Green; Red; White); * Hands (Raised Hands, Prayer; Bloody Hands; Clasped Hands, Unity; Hand of God);
IMAGE TRANSLATIONS [incl. Image: "States.gen_a" Translation: "Expel the polytheists from the Arabian peninsula / Pleasing my lord is my goal, chopping heads is my hobby"; Image: "Weapons.comb_a" Translation: "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful / Peace and blessing be upon the leader of the mujahideen / the poison and gas training session"];
RECOMMENDED READING * Radical Islam and the Jihadi Movement; * Visual Imagery: Theory, Propaganda, & Ideology;
[Other publications (both online and paper ones) of the CTC [ctc.usma.edu/publications/publications.asp] include the following books: * Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa'ida from 1989-2006; * Al-Qaida's (mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa; * Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting Al-Qai'da's Organizational Vulnerabilities; * Stealing Al-Qai'da's Playbook; * Al-Qai'da's Foreign Fighters in Iraq; * The Militant Ideology Atlas; * The Management of Savagery; * Paradigmatic Jihadi Movements, and over 20 additional Reports and Articles - ed.]
URL http://ctc.usma.edu/imagery/imagery.asp
Internet Archive: (web.archive.org) [Not archived. Archiving crawlers have been blocked by the site owner via robots.txt]
Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30
Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com
18 Jan 2008
The Combating Terrorism Center, Dept. of Social Sciences, US Miltary Academy, West Point, NY, US
Self-description:
"The Internet is a critical means of communication for the newest generation of terrorist groups. The salafi jihadi movement in particular has used the Internet to pass strategic, operational, and tactical instruction to its followers, becoming adept at utilizing the anonymity and global reach of online communications to promote its message. Visual imagery provides a key aspect of the terrorists' message in that it allows these groups to paint a picture of their objectives, their enemies, and their strategy through graphics, photographs, and symbols. The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has provided an open source catalogue of these images and their meaning. The Islamic Imagery Project: Visual Motifs in Jihadi Internet Propaganda [2006?] provides analyses for one-hundred key motifs that appear throughout the jihadists' visual propaganda. It is our hope that this project will be useful to scholars and practitioners alike. We welcome comments and feedback.
The report is available in two formats: for browser viewing or as a .pdf. [...] The work for this project was done by the team of faculty members in the Combating Terrorism Center [..., namely:] Mr. Jarret Brachman, Ms. Lianne Kennedy-Boudali, Mr. Afshon Ostovar, and Mr. Chris Hefflefinger."
Site contents:
INTRODUCTION; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;
PART I - NATURE: * Sun (Sun, figurative; Sun, literal); * Moon (Moon, general; White Crescent; White Crescent in Sky; Green Crescent); * Water (Water Drop; Body of Water in Background; Waterfall; Water, figurative); * Flora (Flowers, general; White Rose; Red Rose / Red Flowers; Palm Tree; Greenery, general); * Landscapes (Mountains, literal; Mountains, figurative; Sandy Desert; Rocky Desert); * Animals (Lion, general; Lion, figurative; Lion with Jihadi Leaders; Lion, literal and figurative; Horse, general; Horse Herd; Horse with Rider and Jihadi Leader; Horse with Rider and Black Flag; Horse with Rider and White Flag; Horse with Rider and Sword; White Horse; Falcon; Eagle; Snake; Camel; Dove); * Weather and Storms;
PART II - GEOGRAPHY, POLITICAL SYMBOLS, AND STATES: * Globe/World (Globe, literal; Globe, figurative); * States (States, general; State with Battle Flag; Afghanistan; Iraq; Italy; Kashmir; Kuwait; Palestine; Saudi Arabia); * Flags, Currencies, and Foreign Symbols (White Flag - al-liwaa; Green Flag, general; Green Flag, Saudi; Flags Combined; American Flag; Stars and Stripes; American Flag with Star of David; Star of David; British Flag; Foreign Currency; Inverted Currency); * Holy Places (Holy Places, general; Dome of the Rock; Al-Aqsa Mosque; Kaaba); * Significant Events (Important Defeats; Important Victories);
PART III - PEOPLE: * Political Leaders (Jihadi Religious/Strategic Leaders; Jihadi Operational Leaders; Jihadi Leader: Osama bin Laden; Jihadi Leader: Khattab; Non-Muslim Political Leaders; Muslim Political Leaders); * Martyrs (Martyr, general; Martyr in Frame; Martyr with Country; Martyrs, 9/11; Martyr with Koran and Weapons; Female Martyr); * Women; * Children);
PART IV - WEAPONS, WARFARE AND THE AFTERLIFE: * The Afterlife (The Path of the Koran; Paradise, the Heavenly Garden; Hell for Enemies of Jihad; The Black Flag, al-raya); * Weapons (Weapon, pre-modern; Weapon, modern; Weapon combination; Crossed Weapons); * Blood (Bloody Sword; Blood, Martyr & State; Blood on Desert; Bloody Text);
PART V - OTHER: * Colors (Black; Blue; Green; Red; White); * Hands (Raised Hands, Prayer; Bloody Hands; Clasped Hands, Unity; Hand of God);
IMAGE TRANSLATIONS [incl. Image: "States.gen_a" Translation: "Expel the polytheists from the Arabian peninsula / Pleasing my lord is my goal, chopping heads is my hobby"; Image: "Weapons.comb_a" Translation: "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful / Peace and blessing be upon the leader of the mujahideen / the poison and gas training session"];
RECOMMENDED READING * Radical Islam and the Jihadi Movement; * Visual Imagery: Theory, Propaganda, & Ideology;
[Other publications (both online and paper ones) of the CTC [ctc.usma.edu/publications/publications.asp] include the following books: * Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa'ida from 1989-2006; * Al-Qaida's (mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa; * Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting Al-Qai'da's Organizational Vulnerabilities; * Stealing Al-Qai'da's Playbook; * Al-Qai'da's Foreign Fighters in Iraq; * The Militant Ideology Atlas; * The Management of Savagery; * Paradigmatic Jihadi Movements, and over 20 additional Reports and Articles - ed.]
URL http://ctc.usma.edu/imagery/imagery.asp
Internet Archive: (web.archive.org) [Not archived. Archiving crawlers have been blocked by the site owner via robots.txt]
Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30
Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com
posted by tmciolek at Friday, January 18, 2008
The blog and the AS WWW Monitor were a part of the now decommissioned
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