1st Edition
War and Semiotics Signs, Communication Systems, and the Preparation, Legitimization, and Commemoration of Collective Mass Violence
Wars create their own dynamics, especially with regard to images and language. The semiotic and semantic codes are redefined, according to the need to create an enemy image, or in reference to the results of a war that are post-event defined as just or reasonable. The semiotic systems of wars are central to the discussion of the contributions within this volume, which highlight the interrelationship of semiotic systems and their constructions during wars in different periods of history.
War and Semiotics, War Semiotics, and the Semiotics of War: An Introduction
Frank Jacob
Part I: War, Semiotics, and the Question of Interpretation
1. Media Constructions of War and Peace during the War of the Spanish Succession
Max Philipp Wehn
2. The Red Cross “Shield”: The Semiotic Duality of the Red Cross during the Occupation of Norway, 1940-1945
James Crossland and Gaute Lund Rønnebu
3. The Semiotics of Collaboration
Eirik Holmen
Part II: War, Semiotics, and Identity Constructions
4. (Re-)Negotiating Internment: Language, Semiotics and the German Internment Experience in the United States during the First World War
Karl Dargel
5. The Semiotic Construction of Judeo-Bolshevism in Germany, 1918-1933
Frank Jacob
6. The Semiotics of British Print Propaganda in Spain During the Second World War
Marta García Cabrera
7. The Semiotics of Collaboration and Resistance During the Nazi German Occupation of Norway 1940-45
Steinar Aas
8. Postage Stamps, War Memory and Commemoration: A Case Study of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971
Manu Sharma
9. Semiotics Beyond Agency: Violence and Meaning in the Theater of War
Gal Hertz
Part III: War, Semiotics, and Politics
10. “National Decay and National Rebirth”: The Semiotics of Quisling’s Conception of History
Fredrik Wilhelmsen
11. Legitimate or Improper Economic Collaboration? The Struggle About the Past After the German Occupation of Norway
Hans Otto Frøland and Martin Steffensen
12. Eastern Europe in the Shadow of a Propaganda War: Józef Mackiewicz and Totalitarian Propaganda
Katarzyna Bałżewska
Epilogue: War Semiotics in the Post-Cold War World
13. Brinkmanship: A Cold War Parody of Statesmanship
Rolf Hugoson
Biography
Frank Jacob is Professor of Global History at Nord University, Norway. He received his PhD in Japanese Studies from Erlangen University in 2012 and previously held positions at the University of Würzburg, Germany (2013/14) and the City University of New York, USA (2014-2018).
