‘Islam is the religion of the sword not pacifism’: strategic nostalgia and self-othering in Islamic State propaganda

This chapter considers the way nostalgic and civilisational discourses associated with the ‘East’, Islam and terrorism are re-appropriated and repurposed by enemy groups as a key feature of their messaging strategies. Focusing on Islamic State propaganda, it offers a provocative take on the theme of enemy encounters by showing how contemporary terrorist organisations invoke culturally resonant narratives and imagery into their propaganda in order to exploit and amplify psycho-social and strategic conditions in target audiences. In particular, the analysis shows how Islamic State photo-propagandists have developed two clear messaging strategies, labelled here as Strategic Nostalgia and Strategic Self-Othering, which are targeted towards the group’s imagined audiences; those viewed as ‘believers’ and ‘disbelievers’. In these visual messages, the Islamic State seek to portray the caliphate as both ‘a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes’ and a space of fear, uncertainty and uncivilised violence in a deliberate attempt to leverage the power of culture against culture (Edward Said, Orientalism. London: Routledge (1978/2003), p. 1.).