OBSERVING THE INTERNATIONAL : GOVERNMENTALITY OF GEOPOLITICS, VISUAL CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL LOGISTICS OF WAR MAKING. / Eken, Mehmet.
2018. 253 p.Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
OBSERVING THE INTERNATIONAL : GOVERNMENTALITY OF GEOPOLITICS, VISUAL CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL LOGISTICS OF WAR MAKING. / Eken, Mehmet.
2018. 253 p.Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
}
TY - THES
T1 - OBSERVING THE INTERNATIONAL
T2 - GOVERNMENTALITY OF GEOPOLITICS, VISUAL CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL LOGISTICS OF WAR MAKING
AU - Eken, Mehmet
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - It is common in International Relations to read that “war made states and states made war”. Despite a growing literature on the relationship between visual culture and geopolitics, there is a gap around the manner in which war-making ability of states is dependent upon the population and the conduct of geopolitical subjects. This doctoral thesis interrogates the ways in which the mainstream US visual culture structures the possible field of geopolitical actions and imaginations of the population during the Global War on Terror (GWoT) to understand and explain why this gap matters. It analyses how visual culture encapsulates the population as an affective interpretative repertoire and is conducive to the war-making ability of the US. The project contributes to academic literatures on `Governmentality Studies`, `Critical Geopolitics`, `Critical Military Studies`, `Visual Culture ` and `the Sociology of the State` and offers a framework for making sense of the relationship between visual culture, war-making and governmentality. To do so, a new methodological approach, procedural rhetorical analysis is developed to empirically document the ways in which geopolitical subjectivities are produced through visual culture. Following theoretical discussions, there are three case studies, each focusing on a different visual cultural platform to analyse the patterns recurring in these platforms: documentaries; films; and first person shooter video games. Overall, the thesis argues for the significance of visual culture in sustaining the social logistics of war making ability of the population during the GWoT.
AB - It is common in International Relations to read that “war made states and states made war”. Despite a growing literature on the relationship between visual culture and geopolitics, there is a gap around the manner in which war-making ability of states is dependent upon the population and the conduct of geopolitical subjects. This doctoral thesis interrogates the ways in which the mainstream US visual culture structures the possible field of geopolitical actions and imaginations of the population during the Global War on Terror (GWoT) to understand and explain why this gap matters. It analyses how visual culture encapsulates the population as an affective interpretative repertoire and is conducive to the war-making ability of the US. The project contributes to academic literatures on `Governmentality Studies`, `Critical Geopolitics`, `Critical Military Studies`, `Visual Culture ` and `the Sociology of the State` and offers a framework for making sense of the relationship between visual culture, war-making and governmentality. To do so, a new methodological approach, procedural rhetorical analysis is developed to empirically document the ways in which geopolitical subjectivities are produced through visual culture. Following theoretical discussions, there are three case studies, each focusing on a different visual cultural platform to analyse the patterns recurring in these platforms: documentaries; films; and first person shooter video games. Overall, the thesis argues for the significance of visual culture in sustaining the social logistics of war making ability of the population during the GWoT.
KW - Geopolitics
KW - Visual culture
KW - Popular culture
KW - Subjectivity
KW - Governmenality
KW - Technologies of the Self
KW - War Making
KW - War Films
KW - War Documentaries
KW - Video games
KW - Global War on Terror
KW - Umberto Eco
KW - Critical War Studies
KW - Critical Military Studies
KW - State Making
M3 - Doctoral Thesis
ER -