The Mundane to the Memorial: Circulating and Deliberating the War in Iraq Through Vernacular Soldier-Produced Videos

摘要

The War in Iraq has been one of the most documented wars in history using participatory media technologies. This essay examines how YouTube videos produced and consumed during the War in Iraq offer an alternative to the military-media control over information and images both during and after the conflict. Videos produced by soldiers on the frontlines provide a unique case study for vernacular discourse as it circulates and is re-mediated on the computer screens of multiple publics. Therefore, we describe the most popular genre of combat music videos and perform a critical rhetorical analysis that explores the problematic articulations inherent in the productions. While the videos perform an important role as vernacular argumentation, they nevertheless contain Orientalist and nationalist discourses. These representations become more powerful considering that audiences accord the videos a greater sense of authenticity and authority derived from their vernacular status. We also discuss how the circulation and consumption of both vernacular soldier-produced videos and hybridized participatory media products from the U.S. military in the YouTube digital space problematizes notions of vernacular and hegemonic. Ultimately, these combat videos complicate public deliberation regarding the War in Iraq because of their ambiguous authorship.View full textDownload full textKeywordsSoldier videos, Vernacular discourse, War in Iraq, Deliberation, YouTubeRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2011.589031