Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T10:55:29.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ISIS and heritage destruction: a sentiment analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2018

Emma Cunliffe  and
Luigi Curini
Emma Cunliffe*
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Cultures, Armstrong Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
Luigi Curini
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Conservatorio, 7-20122 Milano, Italy
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: emma.cunliffe@ncl.ac.uk)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While periods of war have always seen cultural heritage placed at risk, the recent rise of ISIS has involved the deliberate targeting of heritage sites as part of a broader strategy towards local communities in Syria and Iraq. Using data collated from social media (Twitter), the authors conducted sentiment analysis of reactions to instances of heritage destruction and repurposing in the Middle East between 2015 and 2016. It is hoped that the insights gained can help the international community better tackle terrorism, protecting heritage and supporting affected communities.

Keywords

Middle Eastheritagesocial mediasentiment analysisterrorism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 364 , August 2018 , pp. 1094 - 1111
Copyright
© Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Moslmi, T., Albaredm Adel Al-Shabim, M., Omar, N. & Abdullah, S.. 2017. Arabic senti-lexicon: constructing publicly available language resources for Arabic sentiment analysis. Journal of Information Science 44: 345–362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551516683 Google Scholar
Alkateb, M. 2013. Non-traditional education using cultural heritage: a case study from Syria. International Journal of Education through Art 9: 189–204. https://doi.org/10.1386/eta.9.2.189_1 Google Scholar
Amaney Jamal, A., Keohane, R., Romney, D. & Tingley, D.. 2015. Anti-Americanism and anti-interventionism in Arabic Twitter discourses. Perspectives on Politics 13: 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714003132 Google Scholar
ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives Weekly Reports. Available online at: http://www.asor-syrianheritage.org/reports/ (accessed 12 July 2018).Google Scholar
Berger, J.M. & Morgan, J.. 2015. The ISIS Twitter census. Defining and describing the population of ISIS supporters on Twitter (The Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World; Analysis Paper 20, March 2015). Washington, D.C.: Centre for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Project.Google Scholar
Bevan, R. 2016. The destruction of memory. Architecture at war. London: Reaktion.Google Scholar
Bockstette, C. 2008. Jihadist terrorist use of strategic communication management techniques (George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Occasional Paper 20 December 2008) Garmisch-Partenkirchen: George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.Google Scholar
Ceron, A., Curini, L., Iacus, S.M. & Ruggeri, A.. 2015. Here’s a paradox: shutting down the Islamic State on Twitter might help it recruit. The Washington Post, 10 December 2015. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/12/10/heres-a-paradox-shutting-down-the-islamic-state-on-twitter-might-help-it-recruit/ (accessed 12 July 2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2016.05.052 Google Scholar
Ceron, A., Curini, L. & Iacus, S.M.. 2016. iSA: a fast, scalable and accurate algorithm for sentiment analysis of social media content. Information Sciences 367–368: 105–124.Google Scholar
Clapperton, M., Martin Jones, D. & Smith, M.L.R.. 2017. Iconoclasm and strategic thought: Islamic State and cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria. International Affairs 93: 1205–1231. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iix168 Google Scholar
Dābiq . 2015a. Shari’ah alone will rule Africa. Dābiq 8, March 2015.Google Scholar
Dābiq 2015b. The law of Allah or the laws of men. Dābiq 10, July 2015.Google Scholar
Danti, M. 2015. Ground-based observations of cultural heritage incidents in Syria and Iraq. Near Eastern Archaeology 78: 132–141. https://doi.org/10.5615/neareastarch.78.3.0132 Google Scholar
Danti, M., Cuneo, A., al-Azm, A., Gabriel, M., Penacho, S., Kaercher, K., Barnes Gordon, L., Ham, E. & O’Neill, J.. 2015a. Weekly Report 69–70—November 25–December 8, 2015 (ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (CHI): Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq).Google Scholar
Danti, M., Ali, C., Cuneo, A., Kaercher, K., Burge, K., Barnes Gordon, L. & van Gessel, E.. 2015b. Weekly Report 53–54—August 18, 2015 (ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (CHI): Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq).Google Scholar
Danti, M., al-Azm, A., Cuneo, A., Penacho, S., Rohani, B., Gabriel, M., Kaercher, K. & O’Connell, J.. 2016. Weekly Report 73–74— December 23, 2015–January 5, 2016 (ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (CHI): Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq).Google Scholar
Farwell, J. 2014. The media strategy of ISIS. Survival 56(6): 49–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2014.985436 Google Scholar
Felch, J. & Varoutsikos, B.. 2016. The lessons of Palmyra: Islamic State and iconoclasm in the era of clickbait. The Art Newspaper, 7 July 2016. Available at: http://theartnewspaper.com/comment/lessons-from-palmyra-where-islamic-state-combined-iconoclasm-and-clickbait/ (accessed 9 April 2017).Google Scholar
Fisk, R. 2016. ISIS profits from destruction of antiquities by selling relics to dealers—and then blowing up the buildings they come from to conceal the evidence of looting. The Independent, 3 September 2015. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/isis-profits-from-destruction-of-antiquities-by-selling-relics-to-dealers-and-then-blowing-up-the-10483421.html (accessed 12 July 2018).Google Scholar
Harmanşah, Ö. 2015. ISIS, Heritage, and the spectacles of destruction in the global media. Near Eastern Archaeology 78: 170–177. https://doi.org/10.5615/neareastarch.78.3.0170 Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.J. & King, G.. 2010. A method of automated nonparametric content analysis for social science. American Journal of Political Science 54: 229–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2009.00428.x Google Scholar
Ingram, H.J. 2016. An analysis of Islamic State’s Dābiq magazine. Australian Journal of Political Science 51: 458–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2016.1174188 Google Scholar
Isakhan, B. 2013. Heritage destruction and spikes in violence: the case of Iraq, in J. Kila & J. Zeidler (ed.) Cultural heritage in the crosshairs: protecting cultural property during conflict: 219–247. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004251427_012 Google Scholar
Isakhan, B. & Gonzalez Zarandona, J.. 2017. Layers of religious and political iconoclasm under the Islamic State: symbolic sectarianism and pre-monotheistic iconoclasm. International Journal of Heritage Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2017.1325769 Google Scholar
Jamal, A.A., Keohane, R., Romney, D. & Tingley, D.. 2015. Anti-Americanism and anti-interventionism in Arabic Twitter discourses. Perspectives on Politics 13: 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714003132 Google Scholar
Jasparro, C. 2015. The case of cultural heritage protection as an element of COIN, in L.E. Line & P. Shemella (ed.) The future of counterinsurgency. Contemporary debates in internal security strategy: 91–119. Santa Barbara (CA): Praeger.Google Scholar
Jones, C. 2015. What is ISIS’ media strategy? Gates of Ninevah Blog, 22 January 2015. Available at: https://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/what-is-isis-media-strategy/ (accessed 12 July 2018).Google Scholar
Klausen, J. 2015. Tweeting the Jihad: social media networks of Western foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38(1): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2014.974948 Google Scholar
Kontopoulos, E., Berberidis, C., Dergiades, T. & Bassiliades, N.. 2013. Ontology-based sentiment analysis of Twitter posts. Expert Systems with Applications 40: 4065–4074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2013.01.001 Google Scholar
Lamb, F. 2015. Daesh (ISIS) heritage destruction in Syria is a war crime and crime against humanity, the UN must consider R2P to stop it now. Countercurrents.org, 28 August 2015. Available at: http://www.countercurrents.org/lamb260815.htm (accessed 12 July 2018).Google Scholar
Malik, S. 2014. Support for ISIS stronger in Arabic social media in Europe than in Syria. The Guardian, 28 November 2014. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/support-isis-stronger-arabic-social-media-europe-us-than-syria/ (accessed 12 July 2018).Google Scholar
Shearer, I., Curtis, J., Price, J., Rowlands, M., Rush, L.W. & Tiejgeler, R.. 2011. Relations between archaeologists and the military, and responses, in P.G. Stone (ed.) Cultural heritage, ethics and the military: 192–218. Woodbridge: Boydell.Google Scholar
Smith, C., Burke, H., de Leiuen, C. & Jackson, G.. 2016. The Islamic State’s symbolic war: Da’esh’s socially mediated terrorism as a threat to cultural heritage. Journal of Social Archaeology 16: 164–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605315617048 Google Scholar
Soriano, M.R.T. 2012. The vulnerabilities of online terrorism. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 35: 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2012.656345 Google Scholar
Stephens-Davidowitz, S. 2014. The data of hate. New York Times, 12 July 2014. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/opinion/sunday/seth-stephens-davidowitz-the-data-of-hate.html/ (accessed 12 July 2018).Google Scholar
Turku, H. 2018. The destruction of cultural property as a weapon of war. ISIS in Syria and Iraq. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57282-6 Google Scholar
UNESCO. 2001. Proceedings of the Doha Conference of ‘Ulamâ on Islam and Cultural Heritage (Doha, Qatar, 30–31 December 2001). Doha: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Weimann, G. 2005. The theater of terror. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 9(3–4): 379–390. https://doi.org/10.1300/J146v09n03_08 Google Scholar
White, C. & Livoti, T.. 2013. Counterinsurgency: a tool for cultural heritage?, in J. Kila & J. Zeidler (ed.) Cultural heritage in the crosshairs: 195–218. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Cunliffe and Curini supplementary material

Cunliffe and Curini supplementary material 1

Download Cunliffe and Curini supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 430.8 KB