ABSTRACT
The essays for this collection were proposed at the height of global panic caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and DAESH. Yet, Adelman, like various authors in this collection of essays, moves away from the violent and analyzes a seemingly more banal form of mediating violence: the infographic. The group’s concentrated spectacle is not only reinforced by violent images of meting out punishment but also by illustrating the “good life” within the territory of the Islamic State and its administrative prowess. While ISIS's presence goes beyond brutal violence, which various authors in this collection stress, it is certainly the case that much of the attention ISIS has garnered has been the result of its violence. Going beyond the literature in strategic communication and political communication, they explore how ISIS addresses the world through specific aesthetic practices.
