Weaponizing Language: Discourse and the Construction of Violence

This edited volume examines discourse and the construction of violence to investigate how language is weaponized to construct violence-priming and endorse discourses that enable terrorism, war, and other forms of conflict.

Contributors examine a variety of cases, including discourses rooted in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, white nationalism, and other ideological extremisms, to demonstrate how the ultimate aim of these discourses is to dehumanize groups and consolidate power. To offer an interdisciplinary perspective, contributors use approaches from a variety of fields, including communication and rhetoric, sociology, critical and cultural studies, political science, peace and conflict studies, and linguistics. The collection is split into three distinct aspects of weaponized language -- dehumanization and othering; justification of violence; and language as resistance.