Current Projects
Light WarI am completing a book project on twenty-first-century war and rhetoric. Drones, Special Forces operations, and digital surveillance are tactics of what I theorize as “light war,” a mode of conflict that operates more freely by placing few demands on public thought, feeling, and attention. In contrast to previous “total wars” built upon the mass mobilization of society, light war is a more autonomous form of conflict that cultivates passive acceptance for violence. I argue that the primary function of contemporary war rhetoric is not to arouse audiences, but rather to deaden public sensation in ways that complicate dissent.
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Shock and AweIn this research, I seek to identify the entanglement of forces (material and symbolic) structuring physical violence as rhetoric through an analysis of “Shock and Awe.” Developed by military strategists Harlan Illman and James Wade, and most famously deployed in the wars in Kosovo and Iraq, shock and awe is an important case study for physical rhetoric because of its promotion of rapid and overwhelming force to compel acquiescence. Shock and awe is not just about sending a spectacular message, but more importantly, undermining the very capacities by which audiences are able to physically and psychologically process information.
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Living PhotographsThe visual technique known as "living photography" was a popular artistic convention during WWI in which hundreds of people and objects would be carefully arranged to compose an image. I am currently researching how these images embody the political philosophy of e pluribus unum ("out of many, one"), and explain why the technique lost favor because of its association with fascist aesthetics.
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