The Narratives We Tell: Rhetoric, Power, and Collective Perception
Faculty Mentor
Simon Sheppard
Major/Area of Research
Political Science, International Relations, Psychology
Description
INTRODUCTION: This presentation explores how language shapes individual memory and collective perception, drawing on research from political science, international relations, and psychology. It begins by examining Loftus and Palmer's study (1974) on eyewitness testimony, where they demonstrate that a single word can affect memory recall of events.
METHOD: An analysis of primary sources, as well as a literature review, of Orientalist rhetoric during 16th-century European colonialism and post-9/11 War on Terror was conducted, including Edward Said's Orientalism (1976) and Deepa Kumar's Islamophobia and the Political Empire (2012) as theoretical frameworks. Specific emphasis is placed on the misconstructions of words like "jihad" and "intifada."
RESULTS: The continuities and shifts in rhetorical strategies reveal the enduring power of language to shape political realities, shape public opinion, and justify domination.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The study of language in both colonial and neo-colonial contexts helps explain how interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, could be broadly supported and why such narratives gained so much traction in media and policy without sufficient critical resistance. Therefore, by scrutinizing how language is used to construct enemies, justify violence, and diminish complexity, we can begin to question the ideological foundations of neocolonialist efforts.
The Narratives We Tell: Rhetoric, Power, and Collective Perception
INTRODUCTION: This presentation explores how language shapes individual memory and collective perception, drawing on research from political science, international relations, and psychology. It begins by examining Loftus and Palmer's study (1974) on eyewitness testimony, where they demonstrate that a single word can affect memory recall of events.
METHOD: An analysis of primary sources, as well as a literature review, of Orientalist rhetoric during 16th-century European colonialism and post-9/11 War on Terror was conducted, including Edward Said's Orientalism (1976) and Deepa Kumar's Islamophobia and the Political Empire (2012) as theoretical frameworks. Specific emphasis is placed on the misconstructions of words like "jihad" and "intifada."
RESULTS: The continuities and shifts in rhetorical strategies reveal the enduring power of language to shape political realities, shape public opinion, and justify domination.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The study of language in both colonial and neo-colonial contexts helps explain how interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, could be broadly supported and why such narratives gained so much traction in media and policy without sufficient critical resistance. Therefore, by scrutinizing how language is used to construct enemies, justify violence, and diminish complexity, we can begin to question the ideological foundations of neocolonialist efforts.