Abstract
Exposure to affective depictions of soldiers with domesticated animals such as cats and dogs encourages civilian audiences to view soldiers, militaries and even the aims of war with sympathy and approval. This chapter argues that Russia and Ukraine are currently engaged in parallel processes of creating and disseminating such depictions in order to rehabilitate the reputations of their armed forces and garner support for their military operations in eastern Ukraine. This positioning of soldiers’ bodies and animals’ bodies together, most notably in photographs circulated on social media, but also in other representations such as statues, is just one example of the wider phenomenon of digital militarism. State militaries and alliances have become very sophisticated and systematic about the use of digital technologies, especially social media and the internet, to disseminate positive messages and images about soldiers, the armed forces and war. The chapter concludes that the differing degrees of success by Russia and Ukraine can be attributed to factors that are highly dependent on context, demonstrating that militarisation is above all a set of social processes.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Making War on Bodies |
Subtitle of host publication | Militarisation, Aesthetics and Embodiment in International Politics |
Editors | Catherine Baker |
Place of Publication | Edinburgh |
Publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
Chapter | Six |
Pages | 148-169 |
Number of pages | 22 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978147444621 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781474446181 |
Publication status | Published - 31 Mar 2020 |
Publication series
Name | Advances in Critical Military Studies |
---|---|
Publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
Keywords
- Militarisation
- War
- Russia
- Ukraine
- Animals
- Soldiers
- Affect
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Ginger Cats and Cute Puppies: Animals, Affect, and Militarisation in the Crisis in Ukraine'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
-
Jenny Mathers
- Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of International Politics - Senior Lecturer in International Politics
Person: Teaching And Research