Stylized Extremism: Embodied Violence, Performance and Youth Radicalization

This paper develops a generalizable theory of the relationship between the aesthetics and performance of violence and youth radicalization to extremist groups and actions in school shootings, child soldier engagements, Islamist terrorism, Central/Latin American youth and urban gangs, hate crimes, and more. In so doing, the paper uses the study of visual and material culture, iconography and style to explain the aesthetic dimensions of extremist engagement. The empirical base for the paper includes significant image, social media, and website analysis. The growing use of social media and digital platforms for extremist communication and recruitment has meant that the kinds of emotional appeals that underpin extremist communication are carefully stylized and curated for their visual and cultural appeal to vulnerable youth. Sources for the images include the personal and public archives of professional photographers whose portfolios focus on youth violence and extremism; research and news media archives; on-line stock collections; screenshots of clothing and tattoo websites; and archives of symbols, images, tattoos and iconography in the archives and databases housed at anti-fascist, anti-racist, and anti-violence organizations and projects. The paper argues that that aesthetic and stylistic dimensions of extremist movements help to strengthen youth identities and facilitate recruitment to groups by exuding ‘coolness’ or a sense of rebellion. They communicate the emotional traits and qualities that appeal to recruits by acting out expressions of desire, longing, anger, resistance, and rebellion and become a ‘gateway’ into extremist scenes and subcultures.