İslamofobinin Dijital Pelerin İçinde Yeniden Üretimi: “Call Of Duty” Oyunu Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Öz

İslamofobi, el-Kaide'nin Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'ndeki İkiz Kuleler ve Pentagon'a saldırısının ardından on yıl içinde Müslüman karşıtı bir kamusal söylem olarak popüllerleşmiş bir söylem olarak literature girmiştir. Çok sayıda bilimsel çalışma, İslamofobi olarak adlandırılan Müslüman karşıtı önyargının Batı toplumlarının belirgin bir özelliği haline geldiğini doğrulamaktadır. Öyleki, evdeki tehdit algısı Müslümanları Hristiyan Batı'nın “Öteki”si olarak odak noktasına yerleştirmiştir. Bu kavramsal çerçeve içerisinde, çalışma İslam ve Müslümanlara ilişkin batının genellemeleri, ve yine bu genellemeleri Arab steriotipi içinde limitlemesi varsayımları ve kalıp yargılarından hareketle İslamofobi üzerine yapılan tartışmalara katkı sağlamayı hedefler. Bu bağlamda makale, Foucault'nun iktidar ilişkilerinin sosyal yapıları etrafında “gerçeği” formüle etmesinin bir analiziyle desteklenen Gramsci'nin hegemonya analizi, Müslümanlar ve İslam'ın Batı tarafından ötekileştirilmesi hakkında daha fazla ayrıntı vermek için ilişkisel bir teorik temel oluşturur. Bu doğrultuda da söylem analizi kullanarak, en popüler dijital savaş oyunlarından biri olan Call of Duty’deki İslam ve Müslüman betimlemelerini yapı-bozumcu bir yöntemle inceler. Dolayısıyla bu makale, dijital savaş oyunlarının ABD’nin önderlik ettiği Teröre Karşı Savaş çerçevesinde batının eylemlerini meşrulaştırmak üzere mercek altına aldığı “öteki” İslam ve Müslüman stereotipleri üzerinden İslamofobiyi yeniden üretme biçimlerine dair yapılan çalışmalara katkıda bulunmayı amaçlar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İslamofobi
• Oryantalizm
• kültürel ırkçı stereotipler
• Ötekinin temsili
• vatandaş-askerler
• dijital savaş oyunları

Reproduction of Islamophobia in a Digital Cloak: An Analysis on Digital War Game “Call of Duty”

Abstract

Islamophobia popularized as an anti-Muslim public discourse in the decade following the al-Qaida attack on the Twin-towers and Pentagon in the United States of America. Following the attacks, numerous scholarly studies have confirmed that anti-Muslim prejudice, commonly referred to as Islamophobia, has become a prominent feature of Western societies. The perception of threat at home placed Muslims at the focus as the Christian West’s “Other.” Within this context, this study contributes to the debate on the meaning of ‘Islamophobia’ based on generalizations, assumptions, and stereotypes of Islam and Muslims. Following discourse analysis as its primary methodology, the article deconstructs the representations of Islam and Muslims in the most popular digital war game, Call of Duty. Thus, this article contributes to how digital war games communicate misleading stereotypes and have been involved in stigmatizing Islam and Muslims and perpetuating Islamophobia in the context of the US-led Global War on Terror. Based on its analysis of the game, the article concludes that the stereotyped group is portrayed more often in a violent-terrorism context than in a nonviolent context where a solid associative link between terrorism and Arabs is established.

Keywords

• Orientalism
• cultural racial stereotypes
• representing “other
• ” citizen-soldiers
• digital war games

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