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Figure . The Black Standard of Jihad, called Raya ("There Is No God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger). Adapted from "The Islamic Imagery Project: Visual Motifs In Jihadi Internet Propaganda, " by Combating Terrorism Center, , West Point, NY: Combating Terrorism Center.
Source publication
This article examines visual motifs in Islamist terrorism based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory, a theory using three key categories of metaphors (structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors). These metaphors are applied to three case studies to show how visual motifs can be used by Islamists to manipulate their audiences. The case studies a...
Citations
... This study takes place against the backdrop of burgeoning research on critical metaphor and its application in different contexts [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [1], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [17]. Researchers have also applied and investigated conceptual metaphors focusing on different cultural settings [18], [19], [20]. ...
Conceptual metaphor theory explains conceptual systems through cross-domain mappings. The mapping occurs on a conceptual level in a way that one conceptual domain is understood in terms of another conceptual domain. It also shows how target domain is perceived or understood through numerous source domains. Daily life experiences of people create patterns of understanding and conceptual metaphors are used to utilise these patterns in our utterances about issues in the world. In this research paper, Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) conceptual metaphor theory and Grice's (1975) implicature theory are used as theoretical frameworks to identify, study and interpret conceptual metaphors for marriage in the Hazaragi community in Balochistan, Pakistan. This study focusses on the institution of marriage as this institution carries rich conceptual domains and has many conceptual mappings. Data collected from the book on Hazaragi idioms and two Hazaragi dramas were used to identify and analyse five general categories which include marriage as a food, marriage as an expensive commodity, marriage as a friendship, marriage as a slavery, and marriage as a journey or time. The paper also explores implied conceptual metaphors for marriage which do not indicate the concept of marriage directly. In short, this study discusses how conceptual metaphors in the institution of marriage depict Hazaragi culture and tradition.
... Through common objects and substances, designers transfer the object characteristics to construe the product (Lemke, 1992). Ontological metaphors are frequently used to transfer or to map the formation and visual characteristics from a conceptual sphere to another sphere (Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016). It was evident from informants' narrative stories that jewelry designer entrepreneurs conceive objects through their design that develops an emotional connection with the customer. ...
Creative entrepreneurship have contributed to economic development of regions and countries and have become models for the countries in the western world. Jewelry designer entrepreneurs are one of the contributor towards creative economy for their role in economic prosperity. This article investigates brand building efforts of jewelry designer entrepreneurs. We explore how jewelry designer entrepreneurs develop and communicate brand narrative and brand backstories confer value to jewelry.
This study used a qualitative approach. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 7 Portuguese designer jewelry.
The study identified seven themes to reflect the brand narratives of the Portuguese jewelry designer entrepreneurs: 1) Designer artists considered the importance of international recognition; 2) Designer jewelry uses the ontological metaphor to connect emotionally; 3) Designer jewelry making a jewelry piece that is fluid and organic; 4) Limited association with fashion; 5) Distinctive brand communication; 6) Fair pricing strategy and 7) Identifying self as artistic worker.The study also shows that jewelry designer entrepreneurs adopts a distinctive brand communication tactics to connect emotionally with imagine customers.
This study proposes a general and managerial guide to boost personal brand jewelry designers entrepreneurs through brand narratives.
This study bridges an academia gap on personal branding exploring how jewelry designer entrepreneurs develop and communicate brand narrative and brand backstories adding value to the jewelry industry.
... There is some irony inherent in the justice is blind metaphor. In American culture, visual metaphors and rhetoric are typically used to convey clarity of observation and thought (Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016). For instance, a metaphoric expression, such as "seeing is believing" represents the stock that we put in visual evidence (Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016). ...
... In American culture, visual metaphors and rhetoric are typically used to convey clarity of observation and thought (Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016). For instance, a metaphoric expression, such as "seeing is believing" represents the stock that we put in visual evidence (Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016). Yet, Lady Justice is blindfolded, so she will not see things that may lead to partiality when meting out justice. ...
... This is the case because, generally, metaphors prompt semantic linkages, perceptual simulations, and emotional reactions in those who hear them (Ritchie, 2010). Some even suggest that the common perceptual experience invoked by metaphors fosters a sense of unity and social bonding between not only people who share their views but also people who hold different perspectives (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980;Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016;Ritchie, 2010). Metaphors, in other words, generally act as a narrative bridge between narrators and their audience members. ...
Individuals make sense of experience through telling stories they hope others will hear. To establish an interpretive connection with their audience, narrators must tell stories that are tellable, conceptualized as engaging but not too socially or emotionally challenging. We analyze the narratives of death-sentenced exoneree activists. When depicting their wrongful convictions, we find exoneree activists convey accepted critiques of criminal justice system processing through familiar tropes that reinforce shared understanding with their audience. When representing their unique suffering and conveying a more critical perspective, exonerees marshal sarcasm, metaphor, and litotes. These rhetorical devices convey irony that encourages listeners to question their assumptions, thereby, enhancing audience receptivity to exonerees' perspectives. We consider the broader significance of figurative language in narrative representations of justice-system involvement.
... For instance, the earliest known metal representation of a human body part was a hand crafted from bronze, adorned with a cuff of gold foil and buried as a symbol of power with a leader near Zug, Switzerland, 3,500 years ago (Curry, 2018). Hand motifs and metaphors are integrally symbolic of power in organizations as diverse as Islam (Matusitz and Olufowote, 2016) and the Black Panthers (Rhodes, 2017). The raised fist is an example of a widely recognized symbol of protest and defiance (Osei-Kofi et al., 2018). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a nuanced interpretative frame that can help global managers with recommendations to avoid misapplied power with group and organizational situations.
Design/methodology/approach
Embodied metaphor is applied in analysis of the theory-praxis nexus to reconceive the bases, processes and resources associated with group and organizational power. Identified are patterns of relations in organizational bases and circuits of power, as expressed through literal and symbolic aspects of human hands and fingers. The paper does not revolve around gesticulations; instead focusing upon a novel, meta-cultural development of touchlines of the human hand, revealing conceptual relationships with the implementation of influence.
Findings
A differentiated understanding of the touchline powers of technology, information, self-awareness, relation to others and access to money can respectively improve decisions and actions. Insights are provided in the areas of controlling people to achieve objectives, demeaning others, managing change and resistance for personal gain, negotiating contracts, advancing personal interests and coordinating reward or punishment.
Research limitations/implications
Choosing one metaphor may contribute to the exclusion of other perspectives, however, the embodied nature of the hand and touchlines tends to cross cultures and may assist further research to address the embedded nature of abuses of organizational power.
Originality/value
The contribution is in the theory-praxis nexus to assist global managers in addressing the risk of potential misuse of power and influence in organizations and to respond to calls for ancient indigenous epistemological systems to assume a role in contemporary management studies.
... The terrorist organizations that raise the flag are incessantly committing violence, which is inversely related to the philosophical meaning of the tauḥ id phrase itself. 53 Based on this description, the phenomenon of labeling religious symbols as a religious-political group's identity does not prove to be a sign that they are moving based on religious teachings. The label tends to be used only as propaganda to attract public attention. ...
The flag inscribed with the phrase tauḥīd has been claimed by Jihadist-extremism groups to use the narrative hadith as a representation of the flag of the Prophet Muhammad (Liwā' and Rāyah). This phenomenon inspires researchers to carry out in-depth investigations on the history of the hadith, either through micro analysis (isnād) or macro analysis (matn). The purpose of this investigation is to reveal the status and motive for the existence of the phrase tauḥīd on the Prophet's flag. This research uses a qualitative interpretive study to explore the historical-critical paradigm through isnād-cum-matn approach by Harald Motzki. The findings show that the phrase tauḥīd, which is claimed to be part of the symbol of the Prophet's flag, is only the form of insertion (idrāj) by Ḥayyan bin Ubaidillah as “the real common link”. The deviation was carried out as propaganda against the political contestation between the Abbasiyya dynasty and the Umayya dynasty in Egypt. This study’s results supply a new perspective that the religious symbols used as religious identity are not all based on valid sources.
Keywords: Prophet’s Flag, Tauḥīd Phrase, Hadith, Isnād-cum-Matn, Political Religion Symbolic
... This photo is untraceable through reverse image search on Google, indicating that it could derive from a Facebook profile, as the platform enables users to opt out of search engines (Facebook, 2017). The page's cover photo depicts the so-called Black Standard of Jihad used by numerous terrorist organisations, including Al Qaeda and The Islamic State of Iraq (Matusitz & Olufowote, 2016). The prominently displayed 'about' section (at the bottom left side of the figure) contains a link to the Danish branch of the pan-Islamic, political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. ...
This research examines how fake identities on social media create and sustain antagonistic and racist discourses. It does so by analysing 11 Danish Facebook pages, disguised as Muslim extremists living in Denmark, conspiring to kill and rape Danish citizens. It explores how anonymous content producers utilise Facebook’s socio-technical characteristics to construct, what we propose to term as, platformed antagonism. This term refers to socio-technical and discursive practices that produce new modes of antagonistic relations on social media platforms. Through a discourse-theoretical analysis of posts, images, ‘about’ sections and user comments on the studied Facebook pages, the article highlights how antagonism between ethno-cultural identities is produced on social media through fictitious social media accounts, prompting thousands of user reactions. These findings enhance our current understanding of how antagonism and racism are constructed and amplified within social media environments.
This chapter is a case study on Boko Haram’s digital media, from their early experimenting with online communication platforms to their culmination as digital terrorists. Of particular interest is the ease with which the Nigerian terror group has instrumentalized and appropriated the religion of Islam for radicalization and recruitment purposes. An illustration of this is Boko Haram’s emphasis on martyrdom (i.e., dying as a hero on the battlefield) as the ideological pathway to victory. The second half of the chapter is devoted completely to the online propaganda videos of Abubakar Shekau, one of the main Boko Haram’s leaders (until his death in 2021). For instance, he was responsible for the infamous Chibok Schoolgirls Kidnapping in 2014.
Terrorist organizations are often described as brands. However, the most important visual representations of these brands-terrorist groups' logos-have remained unexplored. In this article, we demonstrate that logos are signalling devices that provide vital cues on the propensity to use violence. To this end, we code and analyse 562 terrorist logos (2000-2016). After providing a descriptive overview of the main colours and symbols used by terrorist groups worldwide, we rely on a zero-inflated negative binomial model to analyse the relationship between these organizations' visual choices and their deadly activities. Our results show that the presence of violent, religious, and extremist symbols in terrorist organizations' logos, as well as the use of black as the main colour, correlates with more frequent and deadlier attacks. These findings have important policy implications, demonstrating that logos serve as behavioural cues predicting the threat posed by terrorist groups not less effectively than their ideology. By highlighting the importance of visual artifacts like logos and their amenability to quantitative research, our article also provides a novel methodological contribution to international relations, helping bridge the gap between explanatory and critical security studies.
The ideological discourse of Jihadist groups like Al Qaeda or Islamic State is largely built on the use of persuasive techniques which act as instruments for radicalisation and recruitment, and more generally, “convince the audience of the veracity of the doctrine presented” ( Adam 2017 : 5). This article explores the use of metaphor as an important rhetorical and ideological dimension to jihadist texts. Current findings suggest that religious writings often make use of rich conceptual metaphors to convey distinctive ideological perspectives ( Prentice, Rayson and Taylor 2012 ), for instance, the well-known journey conceptual metaphor, with the image schemata of a path, leading towards a better life, reward in an afterlife, moral choice, hope, and a closeness to God ( Jäkel 2002 ). Specifically, the research adopts a Critical Metaphor Analysis framework ( Charteris-Black 2004 ), which combines Corpus Linguistics with Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. The data for this study is taken from a collection of jihadist online magazines. The corpus has been compared against the Qur’an in order to ascertain whether jihadist propaganda writers are inspired by conventional religious tropes as a way of giving authority to their doctrines. The results show that religiously inspired concepts do indeed help the writers to anchor their message to a deeply seated and authoritative set of ideologies. At the same time, semantic and pragmatic differences in the use of these metaphors suggest an ability to manipulate pre-existing conceptualisations in order to fulfil the communicative needs of the writers, i.e. to embody the principles of jihadism. The findings presented here focus on the following domains: religion as a journey ; light as good; heat as fighting; and spirituality as nature.
