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Bir Miti Çözmek: Sosyal Medyada Kadın Kürt Savaşçılar Mitinin Doğuşu

Year 2019, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 113 - 132, 28.06.2019
https://doi.org/10.26513/tocd.553306

Abstract






Bu analiz, sosyal medyada Kürt kadın savaşçıların
imgelerini incelemektedir. Makale Kürt kadın savaşçıların, özellikle DAEŞ'e
karşı yürütülen savaş bağlamında çeşitli resimlerini yaymaya başlayan
uluslararası medya ve imgelerin halkla ilişkiler açısından değerini anlayan Kürt
siyasetçiler tarafından nesnelleştirildiğini savunmaktadır. Edward Said’in
tezinin temel ilkeleri, Suriye iç savaşında yer alan aktörlerin oryantalist ve
cinsiyetçi temsillerini açıklamaya devam etmektedirve bu nedenle oryantalizm,
kadın Kürt savaşçılarının baskın batı betimlemelerine eleştirel bir biçimde
bakmak için mevcut çalışmada analitik bir araç olarak kullanılmaktadır. Bu
amaçla Kürt kadın savaşçılara ait imgeler, Barthes’in “Mitolojiler” adlı önemli
çalışmasında önerdiği semiyotik (göstergebilimsel) yöntem kullanılarak analiz
edilmektedir. Analiz, imgeler ile uluslararası ve iç politika arasındaki
ilişkiyi hakikat sonrası kavramını da kullanarak açığa çıkarmayı
amaçlamaktadır. Makale, Kürt kadın savaşçılarına ait imgelerin, Batılı güçler
ve Kürt siyasi grupları tarafından Suriye'deki uzun süreli iç savaşta siyasi
konumlarını meşrulaştırmak için kullanıldığı sonucuna ulaşmaktadır.






References

  • Alakom, Rohat. Kurdish Women: A New Force in Kurdistan (in Kurdish). Sweden: Spånga, 1995.
  • Barthes, Rolan. Mythologies (Çev. Annette Lavers, 1972) The Noonday Press: New York, 1957.
  • Çağlayan, Handan. Analar, yoldaşlar, tanrıçalar: Kürt hareketinde kadınlar ve kadın kimliğinin oluşumu. [Mothers, comrades, goddesses: the construction of women and identiy of women in Kurdish movement]. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2007.
  • Dahlgren, Peter. “Media, Knowledge and Trust: The Deepening Epistemic Crisis of Democracy.” Javnost - The Public 25, 1-2 (2018): 20-27, https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2018.1418819.
  • Fallis, Don. 2015. “What Is Disinformation?” Library Trends 63 (3): 401–426. doi:10.1353/lib.2015.0014.
  • Farkas, Johan and Schou, Jannick. “Fake News as a Floating Signifier: Hegemony, Antagonism and the Politics of Falsehood.” Javnost - The Public 25, no. 3, (2018): 298-314, https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2018.1463047.
  • Mirella Galletti, “Western images of Women’s Role in Kurdish Society.” In Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, edited by Shahrzad Mojab, 209-25. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2001.
  • Giglietto, Fabio, Laura Iannelli, Luca Rossi, and Augusto Valeriani. 2016. Fakes, News and the Election: A New Taxonomy for the Study of Misleading Information within the Hybrid Media System. Convegno AssoComPol 2016.
  • Goffman, Erving. Gender Advertisements, London: Macmillan, 1979.
  • Halliday, Michael. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold, 1985.Kardaş, Tuncay, and Murat Yesiltaş. "Rethinking Kurdish Geopolitical Space: The Politics of Image, Insecurity and Gender." Cambridge Review of International Affairs (2018): 1-27.
  • Karlova, Natascha A., and Karen E. Fisher. 2013. “A Social Diffusion Model of Misinformation and Disinformation for Understanding Human Information Behaviour.” Information Research 18(1). http://www.informationr.net/ir/18-1/paper573.html.
  • Khalid, Maryam. "Gender, Orientalism and Representations of the ‘Other’ in the War on Terror." Global Change, Peace & Security 23, no. 1 (2011): 15-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2011.540092.
  • Keshavarz, Hamid. 2014. “How Credible is Information on the Web: Reflections on Misinformation and Disinformation.” Infopreneurship Journal 1 (2): 1–17. http://eprints.rclis.org/23451/1/How%20Credible%20is%20Information%20on%20the%20Web.pdf.Kress, Gunther and Theo van Leeuwen. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, London and New York, Routledge, 2006.
  • Kumar, Srijan, Robert West, and Jure Leskovec. 2016. Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes. WWW “16 - Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on World Wide Web. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2872427.2883085.
  • Laclau, Ernesto. 1990. New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Times. London: Verso.
  • Laclau, Ernesto. 1996. Emancipation(s). London: Verso.
  • Laclau, Ernesto. On Populist Reason. London: Verso, 2005.
  • Luttwak, Edward N. “Toward Post-Heroic Warfare.” Foreign Affairs 74, 3 (1995): 109–22. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/yugoslavia/1995-05-01/toward-post-heroic-warfare.
  • Malkki, Liisa H. “Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization.” Cultural Anthropology 11, no. 3 (August 1996): 377-404.
  • Penn, Gemma. “Semiotic Analysis of Still Images,” in Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound: A Practical Handbook, ed. Martin W. Bauer & George Gaskell, 228-245. London: Sage, 2007. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781849209731.n13.
  • Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
  • Saussure, Ferdinand de, Charles Bally, and Albert Sechehaye. Course in general linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.
  • Suiter, Jane. “Post-Truth.” Political Insight 7, no. 3 (2016): 25-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041905816680417.
  • Thornton, Rod. “Problems with the Kurds as proxies against Islamic State: insights from the Siege of Kobane.” Small Wars & Insurgencies 26, 6 (2015): 865-885.
  • Tudjman, Miroslav, and Nives Mikelic. 2003. “Information Science: Science about Information, Misinformation and Disinformation.” Proceedings of Informing Science and Information Technology Education Joint Conference, Pori, Finland.
  • Online SourcesDirik, Dilara. “Western fascination with 'badass' Kurdish women.” AlJazeera. October 29, 2014. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/10/western-fascination-with-badas-014102112410527736.html.
  • Rabar, Ruwayda Mustafah. “Western Media Is Obsessed With Kurdish Female Fighters Battling ISIS.” Global Voices. November 19, 2014.https://globalvoices.org/2014/11/19/western-media-is-obsessed-with-kurdish-female-fighters-battling-isis/.
  • Smith, Samuel. “ISIS Militants Fear Being Killed by Woman and Losing 72 Virgins for Martyrdom; Kurdish Co-Commander Defending Kobane Is Female.” The Christian Post. October 15, 2014. https://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-militants-fear-being-killed-by-woman-and-losing-72-virgins-for-martyrdom-kurdish-co-commander-defending-kobane-is-female-128058/.

Unravelling A Myth: Emergence of The Myth of Female Kurdish Fighters in Social Media

Year 2019, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 113 - 132, 28.06.2019
https://doi.org/10.26513/tocd.553306

Abstract



This analysis looks at images of Kurdish female fighters in social
media. It argues that Kurdish female fighters have been objectified by
international media and Kurdish politicians, who have realised the public
relations value of images, and started to disseminate variegated images of
Kurdish female fighters, particularly in the context of the war against DAESH
(ISIS). The basic tenets of Edward Said’s thesis remain relevant in orientalist
and gendered representations of the actors involved in Syrian civil war, and
therefore the study uses orientalism as an analytical tool to critically engage
with dominant western depictions of female Kurdish fighters. To this aim, news
images of Kurdish female fighters are semiotically analysed using Barthes’
framework as proposed in his seminal work “Mythologies”. The analysis aims to unleash
the interrelationship between imagery and international and domestic politics
using the concept of post-truth politics. The imagery of Kurdish female
fighters is used by Western powers and Kurdish political groups to legitimize
their political positions in the prolonged civil war in Syria.






References

  • Alakom, Rohat. Kurdish Women: A New Force in Kurdistan (in Kurdish). Sweden: Spånga, 1995.
  • Barthes, Rolan. Mythologies (Çev. Annette Lavers, 1972) The Noonday Press: New York, 1957.
  • Çağlayan, Handan. Analar, yoldaşlar, tanrıçalar: Kürt hareketinde kadınlar ve kadın kimliğinin oluşumu. [Mothers, comrades, goddesses: the construction of women and identiy of women in Kurdish movement]. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2007.
  • Dahlgren, Peter. “Media, Knowledge and Trust: The Deepening Epistemic Crisis of Democracy.” Javnost - The Public 25, 1-2 (2018): 20-27, https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2018.1418819.
  • Fallis, Don. 2015. “What Is Disinformation?” Library Trends 63 (3): 401–426. doi:10.1353/lib.2015.0014.
  • Farkas, Johan and Schou, Jannick. “Fake News as a Floating Signifier: Hegemony, Antagonism and the Politics of Falsehood.” Javnost - The Public 25, no. 3, (2018): 298-314, https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2018.1463047.
  • Mirella Galletti, “Western images of Women’s Role in Kurdish Society.” In Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, edited by Shahrzad Mojab, 209-25. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2001.
  • Giglietto, Fabio, Laura Iannelli, Luca Rossi, and Augusto Valeriani. 2016. Fakes, News and the Election: A New Taxonomy for the Study of Misleading Information within the Hybrid Media System. Convegno AssoComPol 2016.
  • Goffman, Erving. Gender Advertisements, London: Macmillan, 1979.
  • Halliday, Michael. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold, 1985.Kardaş, Tuncay, and Murat Yesiltaş. "Rethinking Kurdish Geopolitical Space: The Politics of Image, Insecurity and Gender." Cambridge Review of International Affairs (2018): 1-27.
  • Karlova, Natascha A., and Karen E. Fisher. 2013. “A Social Diffusion Model of Misinformation and Disinformation for Understanding Human Information Behaviour.” Information Research 18(1). http://www.informationr.net/ir/18-1/paper573.html.
  • Khalid, Maryam. "Gender, Orientalism and Representations of the ‘Other’ in the War on Terror." Global Change, Peace & Security 23, no. 1 (2011): 15-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2011.540092.
  • Keshavarz, Hamid. 2014. “How Credible is Information on the Web: Reflections on Misinformation and Disinformation.” Infopreneurship Journal 1 (2): 1–17. http://eprints.rclis.org/23451/1/How%20Credible%20is%20Information%20on%20the%20Web.pdf.Kress, Gunther and Theo van Leeuwen. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, London and New York, Routledge, 2006.
  • Kumar, Srijan, Robert West, and Jure Leskovec. 2016. Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes. WWW “16 - Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on World Wide Web. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2872427.2883085.
  • Laclau, Ernesto. 1990. New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Times. London: Verso.
  • Laclau, Ernesto. 1996. Emancipation(s). London: Verso.
  • Laclau, Ernesto. On Populist Reason. London: Verso, 2005.
  • Luttwak, Edward N. “Toward Post-Heroic Warfare.” Foreign Affairs 74, 3 (1995): 109–22. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/yugoslavia/1995-05-01/toward-post-heroic-warfare.
  • Malkki, Liisa H. “Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization.” Cultural Anthropology 11, no. 3 (August 1996): 377-404.
  • Penn, Gemma. “Semiotic Analysis of Still Images,” in Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound: A Practical Handbook, ed. Martin W. Bauer & George Gaskell, 228-245. London: Sage, 2007. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781849209731.n13.
  • Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
  • Saussure, Ferdinand de, Charles Bally, and Albert Sechehaye. Course in general linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.
  • Suiter, Jane. “Post-Truth.” Political Insight 7, no. 3 (2016): 25-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041905816680417.
  • Thornton, Rod. “Problems with the Kurds as proxies against Islamic State: insights from the Siege of Kobane.” Small Wars & Insurgencies 26, 6 (2015): 865-885.
  • Tudjman, Miroslav, and Nives Mikelic. 2003. “Information Science: Science about Information, Misinformation and Disinformation.” Proceedings of Informing Science and Information Technology Education Joint Conference, Pori, Finland.
  • Online SourcesDirik, Dilara. “Western fascination with 'badass' Kurdish women.” AlJazeera. October 29, 2014. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/10/western-fascination-with-badas-014102112410527736.html.
  • Rabar, Ruwayda Mustafah. “Western Media Is Obsessed With Kurdish Female Fighters Battling ISIS.” Global Voices. November 19, 2014.https://globalvoices.org/2014/11/19/western-media-is-obsessed-with-kurdish-female-fighters-battling-isis/.
  • Smith, Samuel. “ISIS Militants Fear Being Killed by Woman and Losing 72 Virgins for Martyrdom; Kurdish Co-Commander Defending Kobane Is Female.” The Christian Post. October 15, 2014. https://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-militants-fear-being-killed-by-woman-and-losing-72-virgins-for-martyrdom-kurdish-co-commander-defending-kobane-is-female-128058/.
There are 28 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Makaleler
Authors

İbrahim Efe 0000-0001-6730-1965

Publication Date June 28, 2019
Acceptance Date June 1, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019 Volume: 6 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Efe, İ. (2019). Unravelling A Myth: Emergence of The Myth of Female Kurdish Fighters in Social Media. Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi, 6(1), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.26513/tocd.553306

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