“The Islamic State and the War for Hegemony in the Middle East.” In this talk, Dr. Prucha will draw on Arabic language social media, and other text- and audio-visual products, by the Islamic State to shed light on that group’s media strategy.In general, Dr. Prucha’s research focuses on the analysis and deciphering of primary Arabic-language jihadist propaganda content on- and offline. He specializes in jihadi online activities related to Syria, Iraq and the organized opposition. His research covers textual and audio-visual content of jihadist activity and how ideology in parts morphs from Arabic to English and German language clusters. The analysis of social media strategies used by groups such as the “Islamic State” to incite and recruit using a blend of languages and elements is one area of special interest. Another area of interest is the lingual and theological analysis of extremist Sharia law interpretation of hostage taking and executions and how videos as well as social media outlets convey these acts.