Faculty Publications
Publication Date
2013
Disciplines
Communication Technology and New Media | International and Intercultural Communication | Mass Communication | Social Influence and Political Communication
Abstract
Al Qaeda is today a fragmented organization, and its strategic communication efforts now focus largely on recruiting individuals in the West to carry out “individual jihad” in their home countries. One Al Qaeda–affiliated publication, Inspire, represents an unusual use of the digital magazine format and content for recruitment. This study examines the content and design of Inspire to determine how the magazine may advance the self-radicalization that it seeks to induce in its readers. This analysis finds that the magazine weaves together jihadist ideology, a narrow interpretation of Islam, and appropriations of Western popular culture to maximize the publication’s potential for motivating readers toward violence.
Document Type
Published Version
Rights
Copyright © 2013 (Susan Currie Sivek). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.
Original Citation
Susan Currie Sivek
Packaging inspiration: Al Qaeda’s digital magazine Inspire in the self-radicalization process.
International Journal of Communication, 2013, volume 7, pages 584–606
http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1670
DigitalCommons@Linfield Citation
Sivek, Susan Currie, "Packaging Inspiration: Al Qaeda’s Digital Magazine Inspire in the Self-Radicalization Process" (2013). Faculty Publications. Published Version. Submission 12.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/mscmfac_pubs/12
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons
Comments
This article is the publisher-created version, also considered to be the final version or the version of record. It includes value-added elements provided by the publisher, such as copy editing, layout changes, and branding consistent with the rest of the publication.