News
New publication by Hannah Pfeifer and Alexander Spencer
Once upon a time: Western genres and narrative constructions of a romantic jihad
The article by Dr. Hannah Pfeifer and Prof. Dr. Alexander Spencer examines the romantic narratives told by the “Islamic State” in the propaganda online videos of foreign fighters. Employing a method of narrative analysis, based on insight from Literary Studies and Narratology, it holds that while narratives of jihad differ to “war on terror” narratives told in the West with regard to their content, narratives of jihad employ a very western romantic genre style. Focusing on the narrative elements of setting, characterisation and emplotment the article illustrates a romantic narrative of jihad which contains classical elements of a romantic story in which the everyday person is forced to become a hero in a legitimate struggle against an unjust order for the greater good and in aid of the down trodden. The article thereby aims to contribute to the debate on why such narratives of jihad have an appeal in certain parts of western society.
New lecture series in cooperation with the Chair of Philosophy: Human Rights
In cooperation with the "Arbeitsstelle Menschenrechte" a new lecture series will be launched in the winter term 2018/19.
On the 20th of November 2018 Valerie Waldow will start the lecture series with a presentation on human rights protection and democracy in the mirror of global governance. On the 11th of December, a lecture by Prof. Dr. Christian Neuhäuser on human rights obligations of companies will follow and Dr. Kristina Roepstorff will close the event on the 15th of January 2019 with a lecture on the human rights discourse in the context of maritime migration.
New publication by Alexander Spencer & Judith Renner: Trump, Brexit & Post-Truth
Trump, Brexit & “Post-Truth”: How Post-Structuralist IR Theories can help us understand World Order in the 21st century
In this article Prof. Dr. Alexander Spencer and Dr. Judith Renner want to reect on by considering what IR theory has to say about “(post)-truth” as a situation “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less inuential in shaping public opinion than app eals to emotion and per sonal belief".
New student coordinator: Jonas Rusche
Hello, my name is Jonas Rusche, I am a current student of Peace and Conflict Studies in Magdeburg and will be the new student coordinator or tutor for this Master degree. To start with, I want to briefly introduce myself. Coming from ...
