As Clare Monagle and Louise D’Arcens have said, ‘When commentators and politicians describe Islamic State as "medieval" they are placing the organisation opportunely outside of modernity, in a sphere of irrationality’. That is, the creating of an ‘other' to contrast with one's own identity (the modern versus the medieval, or ‘West' versus ‘East’), and, through that contrast, to celebrate our perceived progress or difference in a way that is often also exoticising. The use of medieval in this way has been widely discussed, and is not dissimilar to Orientalism. In particular the recent actions of ISIS and their treatment of prisoners have been called 'medieval’ by journalists, commentators and bloggers alike. The word medieval is often treated as synonymous with filth, lawlessness and brutality.
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