When Vampires and Witches Attack: Psychocultural Weaponization and Its Imperial Implications

Following mass decolonization during the postwar period, it appeared as though a new era of statecraft was steadily emerging in favor of former colonies. However, the break from colonialism was not as clean as many believe due to imperial powers implementing subtle processes that allow for a continuation of informal imperial hierarchies. Postcolonial scholars have effectively exposed the colonial logics, or the epistemologies, ideologies, and philosophies created through colonialism, concealed beneath the theories and ideas of COIN, however there remain unexplored mechanisms of discrimination and control. I will further this endeavor to highlight overlooked systems of power by highlighting how Eurocentric conceptions of cultural knowledge are weaponized against those exercising their right to self-governance. In other words, this research examines how the Global North, which includes states like the U.S. and UK, maintains or expands control over foreign territory and their peoples through militarized cultural exploitation that is made possible using colonial strategies of dehumanization. Psychocultural weaponization is not a relic of the past, it is an integral part of modern COIN that continues to be relied on to this day. In using culture to assist with the perpetration of international hierarchy, the military has learned how to weaponize its trivialization of communal and regional values and beliefs, which extends the potential psychological effects of war.