EDUCATION
PhD International Relations, The University of St. Andrews (Thesis: Playing the Villain: The Portrayal of Terrorists in Western Media)
M.Litt Terrorism Studies, The University of St. Andrews (Dissertation: Images of War and Terror: An analysis of the Abu Ghraib pictures in the context of official images of the War on Terror, the history of war photography in the US, lynching photographs and pornography—awarded Distinction)
MA (Hons) Philosophy, The University of Cambridge (Dissertation: The Slave-Master Relationship in Nietzsche and Hegel)
AWARDS:
The Dr. Handa PhD Scholarship for Terrorism and Political Violence (2013 - 2016)
RESEARCH
I worked with Dr. Pablo De Orellana, painter Tom de Freston and poet Mariah Whelan on Truth Tellers, a collaborative project that considers the ways in which sense was made on a communal and aesthetic level following the Manchester Arena Attack in 2017. More information about the project can be found here. Our exhibition opened on May 1st 2019 at the Exchange, London. I also contributed research to Dr. Roddy Brett’s book, The Origins and Dynamics of Genocide: Political Violence in Guatemala (2016).
BOOKS
The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media: Playing the Villain—Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Shooting Hipsters: Rethinking Dissent in the Age of PR—Repeater Books, 2016.
REVIEWS
"Terrorists affect us all but we seldom meet them; instead we consume images. Using intervisual analysis [in The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Culture], Spens argues that images of terrorists (re)presented to us fall into a continuum of colonialist and neo-orientalist imagery, at once demonizing the other and satisfying our want of closure and simple, binary political narratives. Tabloid imagery is to geopolitics what pornography is to sex.”—Tristram Vivian Hunt, Goldsmiths University.
“The mainstream media portrayal of terrorists has had major political implications on how we understand the political, cultural and historical effects of terrorism today. These portrayals often disclose more about how the “terrorist”, as an ill-defined spectre in western historical consciousness, is deployed to perpetuate a sense of ongoing crisis and historical justification for neo-colonial attitudes. In understanding these processes, and in detailing their tenacity in current media portrayals, Christiana Spens’ volume is one of the first to give a full, critical account of their discursive affect in mainstream media and political debates. This book will no doubt become instrumental in furthering the debate about what such portrayals say about western media and the politics of representing otherness as an indelible, atavistic threat to democratic orders.”—Professor Anthony Downey, Birmingham City University.
“The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media takes its place amongst key texts discussing media and terrorism, such as Brigitte Nacos’s Terrorism and the Media and Mass Mediated Terrorism. While Nacos demonstrated how terrorists use the media to enhance their own agendas, Spens is concerned with how the media constructs its own depiction of terrorists and how the public receive these messages. This book provides a timely insight into how the media portrays terrorism and terrorists, demonstrating how the media paints images, creates scapegoats that society can vilify, and at the same time puts pressure on policy makers to act. It is largely successful in its goals, asking whether the image of a terrorist is important, highlighting the influence of historical examples and emphasising the centrality of a scapegoat to society. Now, more than ever, with the increase in both official and unofficial media coverage, a review of these messages is important.
Spens sets out three central questions in this book; 1) What does a terrorist look like, and why does it matter? 2) What is the function of the public punishment of terrorists, as shown through the mainstream media? And 3) How are neo-orientalist ideas communicated through these portrayals? What works well here is that these three questions are broken down into sub-categories, which focus on society and societal needs in order to answer the questions posed. However, this approach raises further questions, for example, how much does societal need interplay with political need and vice versa? Spens argues that society “needs” a scapegoat or a villain when terrorist events occur, and political organs can move more quickly and efficiently with support from society. The media provides both with a conduit through which to achieve their respective aims, and I would suggest that the political/society/media triangle warranted further discussion.
What works well here is the drawing of examples from relevant events. This is not a book about the Boston Bombings and Osama Bin Laden; rather, historical examples such as Guy Fawkes are utilised as case studies to construct a framework that demonstrates how the media serves to construct an image, create a scapegoat and point to the action to be taken. The arguments made through this framework can be applied to a variety of different scenarios but remain specific enough to be relevant.
One standout chapter is Spens’ discussion of scapegoating and how it operates in media portrayals. Here the author argues that, following an act of terrorism, the media likes to create (and society cries out for) a scapegoat. This “villain” provides a point towards which anger and hatred may be directed, and a call for action. By creating visual connections that either increase anger or create empathy, society will move behind its political organs in support of a response. Spens links back to historical examples, including witches, the victims of lynching in the American south and Guy Fawkes in order to ground this argument.
All of these were said to be “the other,” and the “lepers” of society, leading the rest of society to bond together in order to “right a wrong” and cast them out. Spens applies this insight to terrorists and terrorism, demonstrating how terrorists are understood to have wronged society, and are therefore portrayed as evil and the “lepers” who must be expunged.
Spens further argues that Western colonialist attitudes drive the historical iconicity of “terror” and “evil,” and these are drawn upon in contemporary media reporting. This raises the question of whether media reporting of terrorists and terrorism today is born of out of historical precedent and is, in some part, colonialist or imperialistic in its methods. Spens partly answers this through the case studies provided and her discussion of what a terrorist looks like and why it matters.
In her chapter on media imagery, Spens argues that the image of the “other” is central to creating the scapegoat; put simply society responds better if the imagery of evil is teamed with a political edge. Looking back at historical examples, the term leper could be interchanged with terrorist; if the terrorist has some affliction, a hook or a beard that can be reported as “evil” then we get closer to the historical image of the leper. Through linking this image with the idea of the scapegoat and the historical context, Spens makes a convincing and important argument: that appearance is crucial in order to contrast the image of “the other” against what is classed as “normal” in society. Through media portrayals of terrorists as the “leper,” where any visual defect is pounced upon in order to create an image that suits societal and political needs, it is argued that it is easier to cast these people out as evil and enemies of the state. What a terrorist looks like is important, and the media plays a crucial role in this, creating an image of the terrorist, constructing a scapegoat, and enabling policy makers to obtain approval for action by prompting societal fear and outrage.
Spens’ central argument, that the image of the terrorist is important in order to create a scapegoat, is well written and well argued, and the historical evidence that supports this is convincing. It also raises some questions regarding whether the media consciously and purposefully constructs terrorists in the manner in which Spens suggests. This is an area that would be have been useful to develop, through more discussion of the relationships between politics, society and the media.
That said, The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media is a key text when considering the interplay between the media, imagery and terrorism, and will be of interest not only for critical terrorism scholars but also scholars of sociology and international relations.”
—James Baggott, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 13:3, 502-504, DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2020.1764793
JOURNAL ARTICLES
“The Blood Telegram” [Review] The Journal of Terrorism Research, Volume 6 Issue 3. (October 2015)
“The Theatre of Cruelty: Dehumanisation, Objectification & Abu Ghraib“ - Journal of Terrorism Research (September 2014)
“Contemporary Art and Political Violence: The Role of Art in the Rehabilitation of Communities Affected by Political Violence” - Journal of Terrorism Research (2013)
“Community, War and the Role of Art: An Interview with George Gittoes” - Studio International (Sept 2013)
“Politics and Painting: an Interview with John Keane” - Studio International, (October 2014)
“Shock and Awe: Performativity, Machismo and ISIS“ - E-International Relations (November 2014)
“On the Ethics of Drone Strikes, Optimism and Obscuring Language” [Interview] - The New Strategist (2016)