Adapting to Your Audience: Linguistic Divergences in Daesh Female Recruitment Material


 This commentary aims to examine the linguistic divergences in the Daesh’s communication strategies in attempts to attract and recruit women from various social and geographic backgrounds through Daesh media platforms. It is argued that while Arabic texts tend to employ a more theological rhetoric; English and francophone1 texts tend to employ a rhetoric emphasizing social inclusivity as means to attract North American and European (Western) women to join Daesh. This commentary refers to adaptation as a Daesh recruitment strategy, which takes into account the significant variety of motivations amongst Daesh supporters.