Affects for war: the affective exposure of the USA through the photographic aesthetic of The New York Times in the ten first years of the War on Terror (2001-2011)

• Grant number: 24/19612-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Samuel Alves Soares
• Grantee: Afonso Brito Bandeira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Políticas Públicas e Relações Internacionais (IPPRI). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Our proposal aims to investigate how the affects were key elements in the constitution of the War on Terror within the USA through the aesthetic of the photos of The New York Times (NYT) in the ten first years of the conflict (2001-2011). Through our definition of affects, that is alignment and misalignment phenomenon between mind and body, as well as through aesthetic discussion, we argue that the diffusion of photos by NYT between the years of 2001 and 2011 - time period in which key-events of the War on Terror have occurred, such as the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the attempts of Madrid and London and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden - that relates to the suicidal attempts, contributed to an affective exposure of the american readers to elements that recalls to the september 11th 2001 memory. This was one dynamic that facilitated a national mobilization of minds and bodies to the legitimation of the War on Terror. For this investigation we will use as methodology, visual and interpretative analysis, based on the literature of affect, aesthetic and War on Terror upon the collected photos. These analysis will be supported by the software of mixed analysis MAXQDA, with which affective categories (love, fear, pain, etc.) will be created upon visual elements such as first person point of view and (in)vulnerability through scale, two aesthetic concepts for the discussion about aesthetic in the photographic images.