Visualizing Jihad: Western Representations of Jihadism in Cinema and Visual Culture (1989-2019)

2026-06-11

Edited by Alessandra Goggio (University of Bergamo) and Giuseppe Previtali (University of Bergamo)

 

From the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 to the death of the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2019, jihadism occupied a central and often obsessive place in global geopolitics and the Western imagination. Over the course of these three decades, the figure of the jihadist has become one of the most recurring and recognizable representations of otherness, danger, and political violence in visual and media products. Long before and after 9/11, cinema, television, comics, graphic novels, video games, photography, digital media, and contemporary art have shaped, circulated, and transformed representations of jihadism in various cultural contexts.

As a complex cultural phenomenon, jihadism has generated an extensive body of interdisciplinary scholarship, including work from political scientists, security studies experts, historians, and cultural and media scholars. Similarly, scholars of film and visual culture have produced significant analyses of how jihadism and the War on Terror have been represented in cinema, television, digital media, and popular culture. This body of works often highlight the political significance of these representations. However, most of these analyses focus on specific events, media texts, or historical moments, particularly those surrounding 9/11 and IS's rise to prominence in 2014. Conversely, relatively little attention has been devoted to understanding these representations within a longer historical trajectory. Adopting a diachronic and transmedial perspective, this special issue investigates how Western visual cultures have reimagined jihadism over three decades. This investigation reveals recurring tropes, narrative frameworks, and figures of alterity that shape public understanding of political violence, religion, and global conflict. Rather than focusing exclusively on the post-9/11 period, this issue aims to contextualize the emergence and evolution of these representations within a broader temporal framework. It will highlight the continuities, ruptures, and shifts across various media ecosystems.

The issue will focus on the transmedial circulation of narratives, stereotypes, visual tropes, and political imaginaries across cinema, television, digital platforms, gaming cultures, comics, and contemporary artistic practices. Contributions grounded in film and media studies, visual culture, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, memory studies, game studies, comics studies, and related disciplines are welcome. 

  Suggested Topics

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Representations of jihadism in cinema, from Hollywood productions to documentary;
  • Television series and streaming productions dealing with jihadism and counterterrorism;
  • Jihadism in video games and interactive media; Military simulations, gamification, and other digital representations of terrorism;
  • Comics, graphic novels, and graphic journalism addressing jihadism;
  • Contemporary art, video art, and artistic engagements with jihadist violence;
  • Photography, photojournalism, and visual archives of the War on Terror;
  • The evolution of the jihadist figure in Western imaginary before and after 9/11;
  • Narratives of radicalization and de-radicalization;
  • The emergence of surveillance and security narratives;
  • Gender, sexuality, and representations of jihadist militancy;
  • Orientalism, neo-Orientalism, and the construction of the Muslim enemy; postcolonial perspectives on terrorism and representation;
  • Transnational and comparative approaches to representations of jihadism;
  • Transmedia circulation of jihadist imaginaries across different media forms;
  • Aesthetic and ethical issues in representing terrorism and political violence.

This special issue is part of the outputs of the research project JAVISar - Jihadism Archives. Visual and Intermedia Strategies Against Radicalization, funded by the Italian Ministry of University (MIM) within the FIS3 - Starting Grant funding scheme. CUP: F53C25001220001

  Submission Guidelines

Authors are invited to submit an abstract of 300-500 words, accompanied by a short biographical note (100 words), by October 1st, 2026 to alessandramaria.goggio@unibg.it and giuseppe.previtali@unibg.it

Notification of acceptance will be sent by October 20, 2026.

If the proposal is accepted, the full article must be submitted by March 1st, 2027. Articles should not exceed 6,000 words and may include up to six images, as well as relevant links. Authors are responsible for securing all necessary permissions and publication rights for any iconographic or archival materials included. All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review. Contributions may be submitted in either Italian or English.

Publication of the issue is scheduled for December 2027.