UCF professor publishes book on terrorist symbolism

Jonathan Matusitz, Ph.D associate professor at UCF's Nicholson School of Communication has a new book out titled "Symbolism in Terrorism."

On Friday, Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m., he will deliver a presentation on that topic in the Health & Public Affairs 1 building (HPA 1), room 112, located at 12805 Pegasus Drive (close to Parking Lot D). There will be a book signing at the end of the lecture. Books will be available for purchase at a reduced price at the book signing.

"Symbolism in Terrorism" defines what terrorism is and delves into five characteristics of symbolism. Matusitz also discusses physical symbols that include style of dress, murals and visual motifs vs. nonphysical symbols, such as linquistic symbols, that include the Irish language and Arabic language.

Matusitz presents two case studies in ideological symbolism: Aum Shinrikyo and Jihadists. Aum Shinrikyo, currently known as Aleph, is a Japanese cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. It gained international notoriety in 1995 when it carried out the Tokyo subway sarin attack and was found to have been responsible for another smaller sarin attack the previous year. As a consequence, it is now listed as a terrorist organization by several countries, according to Wikipedia.

Jiadists (also jihadist movement or jihadi movement) refers to the renewed focus on armed jihad in Islamic fundamentalism since the later 20th century, but with a continuous history reaching back to the early 19th century.

The book is already available for purchase at https://rowman.com/ISBN/978-1-4422-3577-9.