Analysing and challenging representations of female jihadi radicalisation - an Area Studies investigation of the European media

可能的研究领域是“激进化”的概念，目前缺乏批判性的学术知识--它与性别的关系，以及它是如何在整个欧洲媒体中发挥中介作用的。恐怖主义是一个复杂的问题，构成了无法在国界内解决的全球安全风险。特别是，欧洲(即西班牙、英国、法国和比利时)在9/11之后发生了一些重大袭击(引起了媒体的广泛关注)(Nilsson，2018年，第17页)。因此，在这些袭击中，大多数欧洲观众，无论他们的教育和社会地位如何，都有动机与媒体接触。因此，欧洲媒体对“激进化”这一概念的表述方式有着重大影响。这项研究将重点放在女性身上。虽然有关于女性的有价值的研究(Saltman&Smith，2015；Pearson&WinterBottom，2017；Ben-以色列，2018)，但该领域总体上由对男性的研究主导。然而，在报道女性时，媒体使用了诸如“性圣战者”、“堕落的女人”、“圣战新娘”和“圣战简”等语言(Mekhennet&Warrick，2017；Gardner 2015)。鉴于证据基础薄弱，这些陈述是有问题的，但也助长了其他问题。其中最重要的一个假设是，恐怖主义中普遍存在一个过程--“激进化”，这一点在关键研究中得到了重申(Bjorgo 2005；Schmid2005；Koomen&Van Der Pliget，2016)。必须认识到，这一术语仍然存在争议(CoolSeat，2011，P.208)。因此，当女性激进主义成为焦点时，它不仅受到研究问题的困扰，还受到性别和耸人听闻的双重打击。然后，这在几乎没有证据的情况下在媒体上进一步耸人听闻--随时向公共领域开放，以供解释。性别和性行为是女性激进化的一个原因的假设，需要系统的社会科学参与，以批判性地分析导致这些现象的基础假设、证据基础和背景。关于英语媒体报道的研究数量有限，关注欧洲语境的研究就更少了。Nacos(2005)的一项文本分析发现，性别陈规定型观念，如外表、浪漫和妇女解放的理想，是媒体代表女性恐怖分子的主要主题。同样，布伦纳的研究(2005)表明，媒体通过肉体现实来代表女性的参与：母性、童贞和她们的身体。布朗(2011)的定量媒体分析发现，被认为是“宗教臣民”的女性在公共领域被剥夺了地位。在这些研究中，媒体经常没有认识到女性是恐怖主义的独立代理人，而关注她们的性取向是核心。因此，这一研究领域既是专题，也是当代关键参与的关键领域，与公民身份、治理和安全专题组的目标具有独特的联系。与以往有关性别问题的协调中心不同，这项工作从该领域的一般女性参与支助角色，超越了“女性自杀式恐怖主义”，转向对一个无法在国家边界内解决的问题的关键参与。人们继续依赖于严格的男女二分法，这不公平地对待女性的自主权，这种二分法在政府政策中被放大，并在媒体上被感化--基于非常少的研究，并危险地接受公众解释。这一研究领域将通过批判性地评估媒体对妇女的描述、从广泛的欧洲媒体报道中收集定量和定性证据、进行地区测绘、对媒体进行采访以及比较不同欧洲国家背景下的这些描述来推动博士研究。它将建立一个证据基础，说明媒体如何描绘女性

The probable area of research is the concept of 'radicalisation' which currently lacks critical academic knowledge - its relationship with gender, and how it is mediatised throughout the European media. Terrorism is a complex matter and poses a global security risk that it cannot be addressed within national boundaries. In particular, Europe (i.e. Spain, England, France and Belgium) have seen some of the major attacks (that gained widespread media attention) post 9/11 (Nilsson, 2018, p.17). Therefore, during these attacks most European audiences, regardless of their educational and social status, were motivated to engage with the media. Consequently, the European media has a significant influence as to how the concept of 'radicalisation' is represented. This research will focus on women. While there are valuable studies on females (Saltman & Smith, 2015; Pearson & Winterbottom, 2017; Ben-Israel, 2018) the field is dominated overall by the study of men. Yet, when reporting on women the media utilise language such as 'sex jihadist', 'the fallen women', 'jihadi brides' and 'jihadi Jane' (Mekhennet & Warrick, 2017; Gardner 2015). These representations are problematic given their weak evidence base but also foster other problems. Not least of these is the assumption that a process - 'radicalisation' - is universal in terrorism and this is reiterated in key research (Bjorgo 2005; Schmid, 2005; Koomen & Van Der Pliget, 2016). It is essential to recognise that this term remains contested (Coolseat, 2011, p.208). Therefore, when female radicalisation is the focus, it suffers from, not just the problems of the research, it takes a double hit in being gendered and sensationalised. This is then further sensationalised in the media with little evidence - readily open to the public sphere for interpretation. The assumption that gender and sexuality are a cause of female radicalisation warrants systematic social science engagement to critically analyse the underpinning assumptions, evidence base and settings which give rise to these phenomena. There is a limited amount of research regarding English language media reporting, and even less focusing on the European context. A text analysis by Nacos (2005) found gender stereotypes, such as physical appearance, romance and ideals of women's liberation, to be dominant themes within media representation of female terrorists. Likewise, Brunner's research (2005) suggests that the media represent female participation through corporeality: motherhood, virginity and their bodies. Brown's (2011) quantitative media analysis found that women considered to be 'religious subjects' are denied agency in the public realm. Across these studies, the media regularly failed to recognise women as independent agents in terrorism and a focus on their sexuality is central. Thus, this area of research is both topical, and is a key critical area for contemporary critical engagement that uniquely links with the aims of the citizenship, governance & security thematic cluster pathway. In contrast to previous focal points around gender, this moves from the area's general female participation in support roles, beyond that of "female suicide terrorism", to critical engagement of an issue that cannot be addressed within national boundaries. There is a continued dependence on a stringent male/female dichotomy that does not do justice to the autonomy of women, and this dichotomy is amplified in government policy and sensualised in the media - based on very little research, and dangerously open to public interpretation. This research area will build towards doctoral study by critically assessing the media representations of women, gathering both quantitative and qualitative evidence from a wide range of European media reports, an area mapping exercise, interviews with the press and comparing these representations across different European country contexts. It will build an evidence base of how the media portray women a