#101 Heather Gregg on Identity and Myths

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.</span></p> <p>During this episode, Dr. Heather Gregg of the US Army War College explores how collective identity building and myths--stories designed to tell a group of people who they are, where they came from and how they should behave--shape violent conflict. Heather contrasts the way identity is used by insurgencies and counterinsurgency efforts and sketches lessons learned from recent operations against Al Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq, as well as the role that identity is playing in the Ukrainian war. Our wide-ranging conversation also covers implications of horizontal and vertical cultural transmission of information, myths as a form of storytelling, and mixing up myth and history.</p> <p><strong>Resources</strong><span style= "font-weight: 400;">:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned</span> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2"><a href= "https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-89"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">#89 Ajit Mann and Paul Cobaugh on Narrative</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href= "https://heathersgregg.com/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr. Heather Gregg’s Personal Website</span></a></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href= "https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2020.1713549"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Identity wars: collective identity building in insurgency and counterinsurgency</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">by Heather S. Gregg</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/