TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - The spectacle of terrorism: exploring the notions of 'blind acting out' and 'phatic communication'
JO  - Contempoary voices: Journal of terrorism research
A1  - Kailemia, Wilson Mwenda
SP  - 91
EP  - 102
VL  - 7
IS  - 2
N2  - The present paper proposes the parallels between 'staged' incidences of terrorism and 'spectacular public disorder' as a supplementary reading of terrorism. I claim that, while the spectacular in both is not par se- or even an exhaustive- account of how terrorism functions, there is an aspect of what the French philosopher Alain Badiou) has referred to as Passage a l'acte ('blind acting out')- coined apropos of the 2006 Paris riots- which should exercise our attention. The methodology of passage a l'acte is to draw maximum attention to an issue by letting the extended post-attack coverage 'do the talking'. The article also shows how 'phatic communication', a term coined by Malinowski, is an important component of passage a l'acte    Keywords: Terrorism,  Terror,  Terrorist,  Jihad, Islamism<p />
LA  - en
SN  - 2049-7040
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1192
ID  - ref1
ER  -