Meanings of Savagery: Terror, Religion and the Islamic State

Explanations of the Islamic State’s violence have often focused on its instrumental aspects and perceived it as a means to spread terror and chaos. This chapter argues that the group’s violent actions are not merely a means towards certain ends, but also symbolic actions that embody cultural meanings for its participants. For this purpose, the chapter examines two cases of the Islamic State’s violence: the videotaped beheadings of Western hostages in 2014 and the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015. In both cases, the chapter demonstrates, the Islamic State draws from traditions that could be labelled as historical, political, cultural and religious to shape theatrical and ritualised acts of violence through which the group expresses some of the central themes of its message, such as retaliation, sacrifice, justice and dignity. Moreover, the particular form of the violence expresses and authorises the boundaries between the Islamic State and its opponents. The acts of violence thus define the Islamic State itself, the chapter concludes, and, through their bloodshed, the participants display for others the meaning of their struggle.