Poetry and Dreams: Narrating Identity Within Rigid Ideology - The Case of Russian-Speaking Jihadis

• In Event: Narrating Voice and Building Self on Digital and Social Media

Abstract

When North Caucasian militants began to arrive in Syria in 2012 they brought with them two cultural traditions of self-narration from the Chechen insurgency: poetry and dream-telling. Russian-speaking jihadis have used digital, visual and social media (in particular YouTube, Telegram and Facebook) to write, share and discuss poems about Syria, and about the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, and to share accounts of their dreams and discuss interpretations. The processes are an outlet for the expression of intense personal grief over the loss of close friends or family members on the battlefield -- emotions that are taboo within the rigid ideology of Islamic State s, which expect jihadis to rejoice in the "martyrdom" deaths of their comrades in battle. Via these practices, Russian-speaking jihadis have been able to express personal voices and emotions, as well as to create and narrate personal and group identities in Syria.

Author

• Joanna Paraszczuk, IHS Jane's