Group 6. Project proposal - Hannah Levy Abuhatzira

The project proposal

Hannah Levy Abuhatzira

Ben-Gurion University

Group 6



The topic we formulated as part of our group discussion is the feelings represented by visual means and accompanying verbal descriptions, in the Israeli media and the Russian media in the context of war situations?

The purpose of the group project is to focus on the emotions that stand out in the visual representation of war situations in the Israeli and Russian media. We will seek to understand how the media represents images of the enemy (the other) and what kind of emotions they hope to evoke. In the project, we will focus on a number of selected case studies that demonstrate the way in which the media chooses to present in pictures different sides of conflicts on a security background in Israel and Russia. By analyzing the visual representations in the images and by analyzing the content of the verbal messages accompanying the images, we will try to build a theory that explains the feelings that the images and the accompanying verbal messages hope to evoke among media consumers.

The test cases we would like to analyze represent some of the conflict situations based on national security in Israel and Russia. In the Israeli context, empirical cases related to the conflict between Israel and Gaza will be selected, and in the Russian context, empirical cases related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will be selected.

In the process of analyzing the images and the accompanying verbal messages, we will base ourselves on content analysis theories and media resource analysis.


Ahmed, Sara (2004). The Cultural Politics of Emotions. Edinburgh University Press

Fassin, Didier (2013). On Resentment and Ressentiment: The Politics and Ethics of Moral Emotions. Current Anthropology , Vol. 54, No. 3 (June 2013), pp. 249-267.

Sa’ar, A., Aharoni, S. and Lewin, A. (2021) Emotionalising national security, depoliticising the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Emotions and Society 3(1):55-71.

Wolfsfeld, G., Frosh, P., & Awabdy, M. T. (2008). Covering death in conflicts: Coverage of the second intifada on Israeli and Palestinian television. Journal of Peace Research, 45(3), 401-417.

Wolfsfeld, Gadi (1997). “Fair Weather Friends: The Varying Role of the News Media in the Arab-Israeli Peace Process”, Political Communication, Vol. 14 (1): 29-48

Dear group 6, I found yor goal very promising, on this stage it will be good to have some hypothesis what kind of feelings you expect to find,and what kind of cotextx you will take under your consideration. Will you focus on similarties or differences?

These hypotheses serve as potential starting points for our analysis:

Fear and Anxiety.
It is expected that both the Israeli and Russian media will evoke feelings of fear and anxiety among their audience through the visual representations and verbal descriptions of war situations. The portrayal of conflict, violence, and potential threats can instill a sense of unease and apprehension.

Nationalism and Patriotism.
The media, in both Israel and Russia, may aim to evoke feelings of nationalism and patriotism through their visual representations of war situations. By emphasizing the defense of the nation, showcasing heroic acts, or highlighting national symbols, they may seek to generate a sense of pride and loyalty among their audience.

Anger and Resentment.
It is possible that the media, particularly in times of conflict, will attempt to evoke feelings of anger and resentment towards the perceived enemy or "other." By portraying acts of aggression, highlighting injustices, or presenting narratives that reinforce grievances, they may provoke these negative emotions.

Compassion and Empathy.
While war situations often involve suffering and human tragedy, the media may also aim to evoke feelings of compassion and empathy among their audience. By presenting images and narratives that humanize victims or showcase acts of compassion and solidarity, they may seek to foster understanding and a sense of shared humanity.

Hope and Optimism.
Despite the grim nature of war, the media may incorporate elements that evoke feelings of hope and optimism. By highlighting peace initiatives, efforts towards resolution, or showcasing instances of resilience and unity, they may strive to instill a sense of optimism and possibility.

These hypotheses provide a framework for examining the emotional landscape that the Israeli and Russian media may aim to create through their visual representations and accompanying verbal descriptions of war situations. Through our analysis, we also explore additional emotions that may emerge in the process.

As for the second question about whether we will focus on similarities or differences, I maybe we’ll examine both similarities and differences in the visual representations and accompanying verbal messages between the Israeli and Russian media. By comparing the approaches taken by Israeli and Russian media, we hope to gain insights into the ways in which visual means and verbal descriptions contribute to the representation of the "other" and the emotions associated with conflicts.

Thanks - it looks very interesting although, like Anna, I am a bit concerned that your focus maybe too broad at this stage. I was not sure, for example, whether you are primarily interested in the construction of the Other or the representations of war more generally. Also, what kind of media will you inspect? They all have very different affective modes - realting not only to differences in technology, but also to political/ideological affiliations, audience size and structure etc.

Also, it seems that you were able to find more articles focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (perhaps not surprisingly). Perhaps this one can help with the Russian/Ukrainian context: Vdovin, A. (2019). "Ориентализация «другого» как страх перед своим народом: «Олеся» А. И. Куприна в постколониальной перспективе." Scando-Slavica 65(2): 223-238. (The article explores the representation of hybrid Ukrainian and Russian identities in Aleksandr Kuprin's story 'Olesia' (1898). Using the concept of 'internal colonization' as a nuanced version of postcolonial theory applied to the context of Russian Empire, the author analyzes the hidden motives that are linked to ethnic groups and stereotypes. The key feature of the main heroine, unnoticed by the previous scholars, is her Russian origin and, thus, the Ukrainian mimicry. This important detail enables a new interpretation of the protagonist's love of Olesia. Both the love story and the orientalization of the heroine can be read as the Russian intelligentsia's unconscious anxiety of dangerous peasants. The article traces how Kuprin discredits populist ideology and the idea of a civilizing mission working with the most painful myths and discourses of fin-de-siècle imperial culture). But probably a lot more is being published as we speak...

Dear group 6, your topic is in a way classical and well studied - if I understand well you interest it is about - how media takes part in the War representing the Other\the enemy. In takes you to media studies, but your challenge is formulate the question and your hypothesis in terms of emotions, as Hanna has suggested in her response to our comments. It seems you suggest to trace what emotional experience, attitude, disposition is created by media's representations of the OTHER at the moment of WAR. If this is the question for most interesting is to start with different types of Others and different relationships with the ENEMY that you recognize in Israeli and Russian case. In Russian the ENEMY was just recently "one of us", moreover, as Pavel suggests, he is part of us in Russian colonial agenda. In Israel the ENEMY is different (actually diffused and unclear - HAMAS, terrorists, Palestinians, Muslims, all non jews?) and the relations with the Other are very different, the symbolic distance and the hyrarchy . So I would recommend think about the emotional differences thought this different political ideological national context. And also, it is important to focus on two specific manifestations. Think, for example, brining together are the enemy's intentions or actions are represented, or how the "success" of military operation is presented in media? How faces, numbers, names are used (or not?), that titles the individual and groups of the enemy are presented and why?