European Female Supporters of the Islamic State: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of their Facebook Profiles

Abstract

This article presents multimodal discourse analyses of Facebook profiles set up by European women who support the Islamic State (ISIS). The research question guiding the analyses is: What types of discourses, modes and semiotic resources are these women drawn to, and how do they exploit them in setting up a Facebook profile consistent with the ISIS ideology? The analyses are based on ethnographic data obtained from Facebook. The findings show that discourses related to the following Islamic concepts are prominent in their self-presentation on Facebook: hijra (migration), jihad (holy war), jannah (paradise) and ghurba (estrangement). The use of the concept of ghurba represents a new finding in the research on jihadi culture and radicalisation. I argue that the feeling of ghurba and the discursive use of ghurba may contribute to the processes of radicalisation.