“Caliphate” against the Crown: Martyrdom, Heresy, and the Rhetoric of Enemyship in the Kingdom of Jordan

Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2018

“Caliphate” against the Crown: Martyrdom, Heresy, and the Rhetoric of Enemyship in the Kingdom of Jordan

Randall Fowler

Abstract

Abstract The execution of captured Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh in February 2015 by Daesh (or ISIS) forces generated large public outcry in Jordan and thereby presented the regime of King Abdullah II with a moment of danger. In response to this rhetorical situation, the Abdullah regime engaged in rhetorics of enemyship based on appeals to religious orthodoxy, authoritarian ideology, and apocalyptic language. By examining these texts, this essay seeks to draw from contemporary rhetorical scholarship on terrorism, enemyship, and mass violence to expand the heuristic scope of the rhetoric of enemyship to include political rhetoric situated outside democratic contexts.

Journal: Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published: 2018-03-01
DOI: 10.14321/rhetpublaffa.21.1.0117
Open Access: Closed
Topics: public rhetoric

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(2016)

“‘Why Would Anyone Sell Paradise?’: The Islamic State in Iraq and the Making of a Martyr,”

Southern Communication Journal ↗
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“Communication and the Good Life: Why and How Our Discipline Should Make a Difference,”

Journal of Communication ↗
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“Review of Enemyship: Democracy and Counter-Revolution in the Early Republic,”

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“The ‘Illegal Alien’ as a Category of Analysis,”

Journal of Language and Politics ↗

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