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The Communication of Suicide Terrorism

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Handbook of Suicidal Behaviour

Abstract

Suicide terrorism refers to a terrorist attack in which a person intentionally kills others so as to create substantial damage, while being conscious that he or she will also perish in the attack. Methodologically, this chapter is a conceptual analysis of suicide terrorism. The main premise of this analysis is that suicide terrorism is, first and foremost, a communicative act. Suicide terrorists do not simply engage in suicide/murder. Rather, they communicate something to us; they do so by exploiting both their own death and their victims’ death as a symbolic signal. It is a means of propaganda that conveys a message of superiority vis-à-vis enemies (e.g. infidels) and loyalty towards a particular cause, culture, religion, or Supreme Power. Overall, this analysis examines the communication of suicide terrorism in five different ways: (1) The weapon of mass persuasion, (2) nonverbal communication, (3) the martyrdom video, (4) a form of status symbol and (5) the culture of death. Scholarship on suicide terrorism has barely looked at that phenomenon from a communicative standpoint—at least not by integrating all five different communicative perspectives in one single study. Hence, the author hopes to add fresh insights to a subject that has become increasingly prominent in both Western and non-Western media.

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  1. Nicholson School of Communication, University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, USA

    Jonathan Matusitz

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  1. Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Defence Research and Development Organization, Delhi, India

    Updesh Kumar

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Matusitz, J. (2017). The Communication of Suicide Terrorism. In: Kumar, U. (eds) Handbook of Suicidal Behaviour. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4816-6_9

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