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Moritz Meister, MSc
title | ‚Mali‘ - Dispositivanalyse einer Social Media Kampagne der deutschen Bundeswehr |
type | chapter (peer-reviewed) |
texts | abstract: In autumn 2017, the German Bundeswehr launched the social media series 'Mali' on YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. In 29 episodes of the series narrated in 'real time', eight soldiers can be seen: from the German barracks to the West African mission abroad and back, a camera accompanies the protagonists, who also often film themselves and each other - for example, sitting in a cramped armoured vehicle. In parallel, snaps and Instagram posts were uploaded daily, and a chatbot sent messages about everyday life and several operations to interested Facebook users.
Our analysis employs the concept of the dispositif to account for the multimedia, cross-platform, and interactive characteristics of Mali. By adding a material-technological dimension to the discursive level, we can reconstruct forms of subjectivation and identify socio-political problems to which the phenomenon 'Mali' reacts to, and which it in turn transports.
In particular, we analyse the seemingly real-time nature of the series as means of attention and affectation, the visual framing of the mission as an adventurous self-experience in a non-political, de-contextualised outside world, as well as the funnel-like structure that leads users to a potential recruitment to the Bundeswehr. A special focus lies on the analysis of an episode in which the death of two soldiers after a helicopter crash is addressed and negotiated. The article concludes with cultural-psychological reflections on the relationship between social media, war/military and (framing) power. |
authors | Meister Moritz Slunecko, Thomas |
editors | Reichl, Susanne Smit, Ute |
publishers | V & R unipress GmbH |
date | 2023 |
location | Göttingen |
ISBN/ISSN/ISMN | 978-3-7370-1639-1 |
DOI | 10.14220/9783737016391.237 |
URL | https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.14220/9783737016391.237 |
published in | title: #YouthMediaLife & Friends. Interdisciplinary research into young people’s mediatised lifeworlds |
pages | 237-264 |
language | German |