CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Alcott, Amanda Jean |
|---|---|
| Title | Gendered Narratives of "Black Widow" Terrorism in Russia's Northern Caucasus Region |
| Summary | The issue of terrorism within the Russian Federation primarily concerns the separatist movement of rebels in the North Caucasus region of the country, including Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. A high percentage of terrorist attacks carried out on Russian soil are perpetrated by female suicide bombers; commonly referred to in Russian and international media reporting as “black widows”. Public dialogue on these now famed “black widows” is based on different understandings of gender as it relates to violence, terrorism and security. These perceptions are founded in the inherent cultural and societal beliefs about gender roles. My central argument is that public narratives used to describe and explain “black widows” reinforce governmental goals to legitimize “counter -terrorism 1d; activities via a highly gendered form of propaganda. Through usage of qualitative discourse analysis of media coverage on the black widows, I unpack the debates over female terrorists in Russian versus western media and demonstrate how they legitimize varying policy agendas by making them “thinkable”. More specifically, the Russian Federation and the West contain competing discourses over black widows—supporting Russia’s hard line (take no prisoners, show no mercy) approach, and the West’s more sympathetic use of pity positions, respectively. |
| Supervisor | Jenne, Erin Kristin |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/alcott_amanda.pdf |
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