Visual Narratives of the Child Soldier: Seeing Agency through ISIS’ Eyes

Abstract

Visual narratives are defined as 'stories that are told through visual media such as photographs, films, memes, cartoons and so on'. The visuals of children in conflicts display a specific story of suffering and humanitarian catastrophe. Yet, the literature has less to offer on the visuals of child soldiers, who are not merely victims but also hold agency. The aim of the study is twofold: first, it offers VNA as a valid and effective method for analysing agency; second, it operationalises Visual Narrative Agency Framework to analyse the visual dimension of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)'s narratives regarding the child soldiers. The article analyses the images and accompanying texts that are utilised by ISIS to from three layers: visual composition, narrative meaning and representational agency. This article examines how and to what extent visuals depicting child soldiers contribute to the reinforcement of ISIS's discursive and ideological regime. It further explores the implications of these visual representations for the broader narrative ISIS projects about itself: such as gender and racial distribution, indoctrination, and conflict justifications through these visual narratives.