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Terrorism and War (Open Media Series)
by Howard Zinn Anthony ArnoveTruth--as Zinn shows us in the interviews that make up Terrorism and War--has indeed been the first casualty of war, starting from the beginnings of American empire in the Spanish-American War. But war has many other casualties, he argues, including civil liberties on the home front and human rights abroad. In Terrorism and War, Zinn explores the growth of the American empire, as well as the long tradition of resistance in this country to U.S. militarism, from Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party during World War One to the opponents of U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan today.
Terrorism and the Pandemic: Weaponizing of COVID-19
by Rohan Gunaratna Katalin Petho-KissThe global pandemic has offered extraordinary opportunities for extremists and terrorists to mobilize themselves and revive as more powerful actors in the security landscape. But could these threat groups actually capitalize on the coronavirus crisis and advance their malevolent agendas? Utilizing the largest COVID-19-related terrorism database, the book presents an analysis built upon a quantitative and qualitative comparison between the nature of both the radical Islamist and the far-right-related threat in 2018 and 2020. It provides, for the first time, a true picture of novel trends since the pandemic outbreak.
Terrorism and the Politics of Naming (ISSN)
by Michael BhatiaPreviously published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly, this volume assesses the nature, power, role and function of names in global politics and the international media.Names are not objective, they accrue subjective associations, for example 'Terrorist' has a very different connotation to 'Freedom-fighter'. The contributors seek the truth beneath the names assigned in an effort to remove the obscurity created by the power of 'the politics of naming' to the reality of the situation, taking examples from Al Qaeda, Russia's demonization of the Chechens and naming in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, among other important contemporary debates. Terrorism and the Politics of Naming makes a substantial contribution towards elucidating the power of naming in the discourse of conflict and will be of great interest to students and scholars of political philosophy, political theory, and politics and the media.
Terrorism and the US Drone Attacks in Pakistan: Killing First (Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series)
by Imdad UllahThis book analyses the US drone attacks against terrorists in Pakistan to assess whether the ‘pre-emptive’ use of combat drones to kill terrorists is ever legally justified. Exploring the doctrinal discourse of pre-emption vis-à-vis the US drone attacks against terrorists in Pakistan, the book shows that the debate surrounding this discourse encapsulates crucial tensions between the permission and limits of the right of self-defence. Drawing from the long history of God-given and man-made laws of war, this book employs positivism as a legal frame to explore and explain the doctrine of pre-emption and analyses the doctrine of the state’s rights to self-defence as it stretches into pre-emptive or preventive use of force. The book investigates why the US chose the recourse to pre-emption through the use of combat drones in the ‘war on terror’ and whether there is a potential future for the pre-emption of terrorism through combat drones. The author argues that the policy to ‘kill first’ is easy to adopt; however, any disregard for the web of legal requirements surrounding the policy has the potential to undercut the legal claims of an armed act. The book enables the framing and analysis of such controversies in legal terms as opposed to a choice between law and policy. An examination of the legal dilemma concerning drone warfare, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of international relations, Asian politics, South Asian studies, and security studies, in particular, global security law, new wars, and emerging technologies of warfare.
Terrorism as Communication: Stocktaking, Explanations and Challenges
by Liane RothenbergerCommunication theories and terrorism - how can a connection be made here? Terrorism is a dominant topic in today's world: It sometimes dominates public political discussion as well as private conversations. Communication studies can help to further penetrate the phenomenon of terrorism and provide important pieces of the puzzle to grasp it in its entirety. The development of media skills among some terrorist groups makes it imperative that the "social problem of terrorism" be approached with the help of a "communications science lens.
Terrorism in America
by Robin Maria Valeri Kevin Borgeson<p>Offering a fresh perspective on the changing face of terror attacks, Terrorism in America focuses on domestic groups, examining the beliefs, actions, and impacts of American-based terrorists and terror organizations. Editors Robin Valeri and Kevin Borgeson and their contributors draw on theories from criminology, psychology, and sociology to explore the ideologies of right-wing, left-wing, and extremist religious groups—how and why they convert followers, recruit financially, and take extreme action against others. No competing text offers such in-depth and nuanced coverage of the radical ideologies behind these attacks, or the ensuing fear domestic terrorism creates, as well as the strategies to combat violent extremism. <p>A core text for domestic terrorism courses and an excellent supplement for any counterterrorism or homeland security course, Terrorism in America brings its singular focus to the growth and evolution of terrorism in the United States. Interviews, case studies from the field, and chapter themes make this a highly readable text for criminal justice, psychology, sociology, and homeland security students, professors, or practitioners.</p>
Terrorism in American Memory: Memorials, Museums, and Architecture in the Post-9/11 Era
by Marita SturkenThe role of cultural memory in American identityTerrorism in American Memory argues that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and all that followed in its wake were the primary force shaping United States politics and culture in the post-9/11 era. Marita Sturken maintains that during the past two decades, when the country was subjected to terrorist attacks and promulgated ongoing wars of aggression, we have veered into increasingly polarized factions and been extraordinarily preoccupied with memorialization and the politics of memory. The post-9/11 era began with a hunger for memorialization and it ended with massive protests over police brutality that demanded the destruction of historical monuments honoring racist historical figures. Sturken argues that memory is both the battleground and the site for negotiations of national identity because it is a field through which the past is experienced in the present. The paradox of these last two decades is that it gave rise to an era of intensely nationalistic politics in response to global terrorism at the same time that it released the containment of the ghosts of terrorism embedded within US history. And within that disruption, new stories emerged, new memories were unearthed, and the story of the nation is being rewritten. For these reasons, this book argues that the post-9/11 era has come to an end, and we are now in a new still undefined era with new priorities and national demands. An era preoccupied with memory thus begins with the memorial projects of 9/11 and ends with the radical intervention of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, informally known as the Lynching Memorial, in Montgomery, Alabama, a project that, unlike the nationalistic 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York, dramatically rewrites the national script of American history. Woven within analyses of memorialization, memorials, memory museums, art projects on memory, and architectural projects is a discussion about design and architecture, the increased creation of memorials as experiences, and the role of architecture as national symbolism and renewal. Terrorism in American Memory sheds light on the struggles over who is memorialized, who is forgotten, and what that politics of memory reveals about the United States as an imaginary and a nation.
Terrorism in Memory Culture: Investigating the Aftermath of July 22 in Norway (Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies)
by Paula Hamilton Alexandre DessinguéThis edited collection examines the intersection between the developing fields of terrorism and cultural memory studies through a detailed study of the 2011 terrorist attack in Norway. It examines how the work of remembrance has been established through arts such as theatre and fiction, and also architecture, heritage and education. It traces the politics of the remembrance processes and explores the shifting meanings in public memories that change over the thirteen years since the attack, and are constantly being negotiated in response to present circumstances. It also charts general trends in memorialisation: the globalising and digitalising of memory practices, the speed of memorial initiatives, the role of testimony, and the importance of diverse narratives emerging through newer modes of communication. Chapters 10, 13 and 16 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com
Terrorism in Perspective
by Sue Mahan Pamala L. GrisetThe Third Edition of Terrorism in Perspective, like its two successful predecessors, takes a broad-based approach that emphasizes the historical, cultural, political, religious, social, and economic factors that underlie an understanding of both global and domestic terrorism. This unique text-reader combines original essays with the best of the existing literature on terrorism. Each chapter of this text begins with an overview essay written by the authors, followed by two relevant and engaging articles culled from a wide variety of popular, academic, and governmental sources. This is the only major terrorism text to incorporate readings from top terrorism experts into a traditional textbook format, allowing readers to deepen their understanding of each aspect of terrorism.
Terrorism in the Classroom: Security, Surveillance and a Public Duty to Act (Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society)
by Andrew Whiting Imran Awan Keith SpillerThis book charts contemporary developments in counter-extremism within the UK education sector. Set against the background of the controversial Prevent strategy the book focuses on the expansion of counter‑extremism into education and draws on key legislation such as the Counter Terrorism and Security Act (2015) that imposed a statutory counter-extremism duty on public sector workers in the UK. The authors provide a wide-ranging critique that draws on theories of surveillance and power, an international review of counter‑extremism educational initiatives and a series of interviews with UK lecturers. Terrorism in the Classroom highlights the problems that occur when counter-extremism becomes an objective of education and a part of the curriculum, as well as the anxiety that is felt by educators who have been deputised into the role of counter-extremism practitioners. It will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including Criminology, International Relations, Politics and Education.
Terrorism on Trial: Political Violence and Abolitionist Futures
by Nicole NguyenA landmark sociological examination of terrorism prosecution in United States courts Rather than functioning as a final arbiter of justice, U.S. domestic courts are increasingly seen as counterterrorism tools that can incapacitate terrorists, maintain national security operations domestically, and produce certain narratives of conflict. Terrorism on Trial examines the contemporary role that these courts play in the global war on terror and their use as a weapon of war: hunting, criminalizing, and punishing entire communities in the name of national security. Nicole Nguyen advocates for a rethinking of popular understandings of political violence and its root causes, encouraging readers to consider anti-imperial abolitionist alternatives to the criminalization, prosecution, and incarceration of individuals marked as real or perceived terrorists. She exposes how dominant academic discourses, geographical imaginations, and social processes have shaped terrorism prosecutions, as well as how our fundamental misunderstanding of terrorism has led to punitive responses that do little to address the true sources of violence, such as military interventions, colonial occupations, and tyrannical regimes. Nguyen also explores how these criminal proceedings bear on the lives of defendants and families, seeking to understand how legal processes unevenly criminalize and disempower communities of color. A retheorization of terrorism as political violence, Terrorism on Trial invites readers to carefully consider the role of power and politics in the making of armed resistance, addressing the root causes of political violence, with a goal of building toward a less violent and more liberatory world.
Terrorism, Criminal Law and Politics: The Decline of the Political Offence Exception to Extradition (Transnational Criminal Justice)
by Julia JanssonRecent atrocities have ensured that terrorism and how to deal with terrorists legally and politically has been the subject of much discussion and debate on the international stage. This book presents a study of changes in the legal treatment of those perpetrating crimes of a political character over several decades. It most centrally deals with the political offence exception and how it has changed. The book looks at this change from an international perspective with a particular focus on the United States. Interdisciplinary in approach, it examines the fields of terrorism and political crime from legal, political science and criminological perspectives. It will be of interest to a broad range of academics and researchers, as well as to policymakers involved in creating new anti-terrorist policies.
Terrorism, Radicalisation & Countering Violent Extremism: Practical Considerations & Concerns
by Shashi JayakumarThis book brings together research that covers perspectives and case studies on terrorism, radicalisation and countering violent extremism (CVE). Written by experts involved in these issues at the grassroots, the book bridges the academic-practitioner gap in the field. The proliferation of academic studies and conferences devoted to these subjects has meant that policymakers and practitioners in the same fields sometimes struggle to digest the sheer volume of academic output. The same critical questions keep coming up, but it is debatable the level to which there have been tangible improvements to our real state of knowledge: knowledge in especially in terms of what “best practices” exist in the field (and what can be translated, versus what approaches remain context and location specific). Written in an accessible manner for the general interested reader, practitioners, and policymakers in the field, this volume comprises edited versions of papers presented at CVE workshops run by the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2016 and 2017.
Terrorism, Rights and the Rule of Law
by Barry Vaughan Shane KilcomminsThe rule of law is becoming a victim of the struggle against terrorism. Many countries are reviewing their security procedures and questioning whether due process rights hinder them in the war on terror. There is increasing emphasis on preventive detention or strategies of disablement that cut into the liberties of suspects who may not have committed a crime. The focus of this book is the Republic of Ireland, where the risk of political violence has constantly threatened the Irish state. To ensure its survival, the state has resorted to emergency laws that weaken due process rights. The effects of counter-terrorism campaigns upon the rule of law governing criminal justice in Ireland are a central feature of this book. Globalization has supported this crossover, as organized crime seems immune to conventional policing tactics. But globalization fragments the authority of the state by introducing a new justice network. New regulatory agencies are entrusted with powers to control novel risks and social movements adopt a human rights discourse to contest state power and emergency laws. The result of this conflux of actors and risks is are negotiation of the model of justice that citizens can expect. Terrorism, Rights and the Rule of Law contributes to current debates about civil liberties in the war on terror, how counter-terrorism can contaminate criminal justice, and how globalization challenges a state-centred view of criminal justice. It will be of key interest to students of criminology, law, human rights and sociology,as well as legal and other practitioners and policy-makers.
Terrorism, Risk and the City: The Making of a Contemporary Urban Landscape
by Jon CoaffeeThe development of defensive strategies encompassing the fortification and privatization of the city has attracted significant attention during recent years, and has become particularly relevant in the aftermath of September 11th. Dealing with issues of risk, security and the spatial restructuring of contemporary western cities, this book examines how the perceived risk of terrorist attack led to changes in the physical form and institutional infrastructure of the city of London during the 1990s when the city was a prime terrorist target. The book analyses how the various formal and informal strategies adopted in the City attempted to reduce both the physical and financial risk of terrorism. This was undertaken through a series of place-specific security initiatives and risk management policies which led to increased fortification, a substantial rise in terrorism insurance premiums, and, changing institutional relations at a variety of spatial scales. It also argues that the security measures deployed were developed not in terms of an anti-terrorist effort, but in relation to the unintended by-products of these approaches such as crime reduction and enhanced traffic management capabilities.
Terrorism: An Investigator's Handbook
by William E. DysonThis handbook introduces the reader to the field of terrorism investigation. Describing how terrorists operate and how they differ from other criminals, it provides an outline of how terrorism investigations should be conducted. By helping investigators to develop skills and knowledge, this guide helps them to prepare prosecutable cases against terrorists.
Terrorism: Strategies for Intervention
by Harold Hall VAn essential resource for anyone working against terrorism in any form it may take! Written for threat assessment professionals in the post-9/11 era, this timely book will help you understand the motivation to commit acts of terror, the thinking patterns common to many terrorists, the psychology of Muslim fundamentalists, methods for predicting the likelihood of chemical/biological attacks, and a great deal more. You&’ll learn about hostage/barricade situations and the role of the crisis negotiator, including victim/perpetrator psychology and factors that indicate progress is being made in a crisis negotiation and factors that imply imminent lethality. After reading Terrorism: Strategies for Intervention, you&’ll have a better understanding of: biological, social, and psychological constructs that are important to understanding group violence the role of emotions in violence the history of chemical/biological weapons use from 1978 to the present, and methods of predicting the likelihood and origins of such attacks the importance of concurrent sequences in relation to chemical/biological attacks hostage/barricade situations, the makeup of crisis negotiation teams, and the role of the crisis negotiator hostage incident databases-where to find them, what they contain, and how they can be used effectively six different types of hostage takers and what strategies have the best chance of bringing each type&’s crises to an end factors that indicate progress is being made in a crisis negotiation and factors that imply imminent lethality ethical concerns for forensic consultants when dealing with the issues surrounding terrorism Here is a sample of what you&’ll find in this informative and well-referenced book: "Terrorism as Group Violence" illustrates the complexity of terrorism and the need to consider the interplay of biological, social, and psychological influences on terrorist behavior. This chapter identifies the constructs and data generated by theories of violence that are relevant to terrorism. Next, profiles of terrorists&’ motivations are scrutinized, followed by a probing of the specific patterns of thinking salient to their motivations. Finally, approaches to solving the terrorist problem are framed. Five handy tables make important points easy to access and understand. "Chemical and Biological Violence: Predictive Patterns in State and Terrorist Behavior" is essential reading for any serious evaluator of chemical and biological weapons. This chapter uses the Lethal Violence Sequence as a means to help predict chemical/biological weapons use by religious and ethno-nationalist terrorist groups. It includes case vignettes, data categories that can help make predictions more accurate, and a discussion of solutions for use by individuals, law enforcement and federal anti-terrorist agencies, as well as manufacturers and other industry entities, plus a consideration of government and international efforts. "Negotiating Crises: The Evolution of Hostage/Barricade Crisis Negotiations" examines multiple ways by which a crisis incident can be classified, analyzes the results of hostage incident databases, discusses negotiation techniques, and explores the impact of captivity on the victim. The author reveals important characteristics of hostage/barricade situations that can be vital to the success of the evaluator/negotiator. Six informative tables in this section make statistics and procedures easy to understand. "Ethical Concerns in Forensic Consultation Regarding National Safety and Security" provides an essential overview of the ethical challenges that mental health professionals and behavioral scientists face when they consult on matters of national security and safety. This chapter delivers useful guidance for professionals who
Terrorism: The Cuban Connection
by Roger W. FontaineFirst published in 1988, Terrorism: The Cuban Connection examines Cuba’s involvement in terrorism. With a focus on Havana, the book begins by looking at Cuba’s history and the origins of terrorism. As it progresses, the book traces the development of terrorism and explores Cuba’s connections with other parts of the world, including America, Russia, the Caribbean, South America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Terrorism: The Cuban Connection is a detailed study, equipped with a wealth of key documents and photographs.
Terrorismo mediático
by Carlos FazioEn la línea de obras de pensamiento crítico radical como La doctrina del shock, de Naomi Klein, en este libro Carlos Fazio analiza de manera exhaustiva el fenómeno de la construcción social del miedo e investiga cómo se ha ejercido el arte de la desinformación y la propaganda mediática en la historia reciente de México. Una obra desafiante que pone el dedo en una de las llagas del convulso inicio del siglo XXI: el uso de los medios de comunicación para distorsionar la opinión pública y respaldar los intereses económicos y políticos de ciertos grupos de poder. "Si todos los medios dicen que algo es verdad, es verdad, incluso si es falso" Contra esa sentencia, este libro ofrece un análisis inteligente y arriesgado que desmonta las múltiples estrategias para manipular que ejercen los medios de comunicación. Tras desarrollar conceptos clave como "propaganda", "censura" o "guerra psicológica", Carlos Fazio aporta elementos puntuales para entender cómo los poderes fácticos imponen sus cuestionables agendas ideológicas y obligan a que las personas adopten una conducta determinada.Un revelador examen de la "guerra contra el terrorismo" de George W. Bush le sirve al autor como marco teórico para reinterpretar diversos acontecimientos de la historia reciente de México a partir de una clave fundamental: la construcción social del miedo. Así, se abordan casos emblemáticos que van desde el golpismo mediático suscitado por el asesinato de un conductor de televisión -pasando por la huelga de la UNAM, el intento por desaforar al líder nacional de la izquierda o los sucesos de 2006 en Oaxaca y Atenco- hasta la militarización del país por medio de la lucha contra el crimen organizado. Por último, Fazio, siempre resistente a los usos y las costumbres del poder, hace un contundente diagnóstico del estado de cosas en la que denomina "la república de Televisa", donde han quedado a la vista las miserias de un sistema político controlado por la dictadura del rating y el poder del dinero.
Terrorismus als Kommunikation: Bestandsaufnahme, Erklärungen und Herausforderungen (Aktivismus- und Propagandaforschung)
by Liane RothenbergerKommunikationstheorien und Terrorismus – wie lässt sich hier eine Verbindung schaffen? Terrorismus ist ein in der heutigen Zeit dominantes Thema: Es bestimmt zuweilen die öffentliche politische Diskussion wie auch private Gespräche. Die Kommunikationswissenschaft kann dazu beitragen, das Phänomen Terrorismus weiter zu durchdringen, und wichtige Puzzlesteine liefern, es in seiner Gesamtheit zu erfassen. Die Entwicklung der Medienkompetenz mancher Terroristengruppen drängt es geradezu auf, das „Gesellschaftsproblem Terrorismus“ mithilfe einer „kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Brille“ anzugehen.
Terrorismus als hybride Bedrohung des 21. Jahrhunderts: Akteure, Mittel Und Die Notwendigkeit Einer Modernen Sicherheitsarchitektur In Deutschland (Sicherheit - Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven Ser.)
by Dirk Freudenberg Stefan Goertz Stephan ManingerIn diesem Sammelband untersuchen Wissenschaftler und Praktiker aus dem Politikfeld Innere Sicherheit die asymmetrische Bedrohung durch den islamistischen Terrorismus in Deutschland und leiten daraus eine dringend erforderliche Anpassung der deutschen Sicherheitsarchitektur ab.Der InhaltDas Bedrohungspotenzial durch Islamismus und islamistischen Terrorismus ● Islamistisch-terroristische Radikalisierung ● Recht als Grundlage und Schranke staatlichen Handelns bei der Bekämpfung des Terrorismus ● Terrorismusabwehr und -bekämpfung im Zeitalter strategischer Ungewissheit ● Effekte von Terrorismus und Anarchismus als Führungsproblem ● Politisch motivierte Kriminalität mit CBRN-Tatmitteln ● Reichweite und Methodenspektrum im Zeitalter islamistischer AnschlägeDie HerausgeberDr. Dirk Freudenberg ist Dozent im Referat Strategische Führung und Leitung, Notfallvorsorge und -planung, pädagogische Grundlagen und Qualitätsmanagement an der Akademie für Krisenmanagement, Notfallplanung und Zivilschutz (AKNZ) im Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz- und Katastrophenhilfe (BBK).Dr. Stefan Goertz ist Beamter der Bundespolizei und Dozent an der Hochschule des Bundes, Fachbereich Bundespolizei, in Lübeck.Dr. Stephan Maninger ist Politikwissenschaftler mit zahlreichen Veröffentlichungen und Vorträgen an diversen akademischen Einrichtungen zu sicherheitspolitischen und militärgeschichtlichen Themen.
Terrorismus und Polizei: Der Fall Breitscheidplatz
by Henrik DosdallDer schwerste islamistische Anschlag in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik – der Anschlag auf den Berliner Breitscheidplatz – hat eine Besonderheit: verschiedene Polizeien ermittelten über Monate gegen den späteren Täter, stellten ihre Ermittlungen dann aber Monate vor dem Anschlag ein. Wie kam es zu dieser Einstellung? Und wie ermitteln Polizeien überhaupt im Bereich Terrorismus? Handelt es sich um einen eklatanten Fall von Behördenversagen? Oder waren andere Gründe ausschlaggebend für die Einstellung? Was verrät uns der Fall über die Herausforderungen, die sogenannte Einzeltäter*innen für die Polizei? Das vorliegende Buch nimmt diese Fragen aus einer informierten soziologischen Perspektive auf.
Terrorismusbekämpfung und Extremismusprävention: Eine Einführung
by Stefan Goertz Nicolas StockhammerDieses Lehrbuch bietet einen kompakten Überblick über die wesentlichen Zugänge, Spezifika und Methoden der behördlichen Terrorismusbekämpfung und der strukturellen Extremismusprävention. In verständlicher Art und Weise werden auf Basis einer aktuellen Bedrohungsanalyse durch Extremismus in Europa Grundprobleme beider Themenfelder ausgewogen dargestellt, kritisch reflektiert und auch anhand von rezenten Beispielen illustriert. Das Buch soll aufgrund seiner leicht verständlichen Struktur und der fortwährenden Aktualität des Themas ein breites Publikum von Studierenden bis hin zu Praktikerinnen und Praktikern ansprechen.
Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times
by Jasbir K. PuarIn this pathbreaking work, Jasbir K. Puar argues that configurations of sexuality, race, gender, nation, class, and ethnicity are realigning in relation to contemporary forces of securitization, counterterrorism, and nationalism. She examines how liberal politics incorporate certain queer subjects into the fold of the nation-state, through developments including the legal recognition inherent in the overturning of anti-sodomy laws and the proliferation of more mainstream representation. These incorporations have shifted many queers from their construction as figures of death (via the AIDS epidemic) to subjects tied to ideas of life and productivity (gay marriage and reproductive kinship). Puar contends, however, that this tenuous inclusion of some queer subjects depends on the production of populations of Orientalized terrorist bodies. Heteronormative ideologies that the U. S. nation-state has long relied on are now accompanied by homonormative ideologies that replicate narrow racial, class, gender, and national ideals. These "homonationalisms" are deployed to distinguish upright "properly hetero," and now "properly homo," U. S. patriots from perversely sexualized and racialized terrorist look-a-likes--especially Sikhs, Muslims, and Arabs--who are cordoned off for detention and deportation. Puar combines transnational feminist and queer theory, Foucauldian biopolitics, Deleuzian philosophy, and technoscience criticism, and draws from an extraordinary range of sources, including governmental texts, legal decisions, films, television, ethnographic data, queer media, and activist organizing materials and manifestos. Looking at various cultural events and phenomena, she highlights troublesome links between terrorism and sexuality: in feminist and queer responses to the Abu Ghraib photographs, in the triumphal responses to the Supreme Court's Lawrence decision repealing anti-sodomy laws, in the measures Sikh Americans and South Asian diasporic queers take to avoid being profiled as terrorists, and in what Puar argues is a growing Islamophobia within global queer organizing.
Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times
by Jasbir K. PuarTenth Anniversary Expanded Edition Ten years on, Jasbir K. Puar’s pathbreaking Terrorist Assemblages remains one of the most influential queer theory texts and continues to reverberate across multiple political landscapes, activist projects, and scholarly pursuits. Puar argues that configurations of sexuality, race, gender, nation, class, and ethnicity are realigning in relation to contemporary forces of securitization, counterterrorism, and nationalism. She examines how liberal politics incorporate certain queer subjects into the fold of the nation-state, shifting queers from their construction as figures of death to subjects tied to ideas of life and productivity. This tenuous inclusion of some queer subjects depends, however, on the production of populations of Orientalized terrorist bodies. Heteronormative ideologies that the U.S. nation-state has long relied on are now accompanied by what Puar calls homonationalism—a fusing of homosexuality to U.S. pro-war, pro-imperialist agendas. As a concept and tool of biopolitical management, homonationalism is here to stay. Puar’s incisive analyses of feminist and queer responses to the Abu Ghraib photographs, the decriminalization of sodomy in the wake of the Patriot Act, and the profiling of Sikh Americans and South Asian diasporic queers are not instances of a particular historical moment; rather, they are reflective of the dynamics saturating power, sexuality, race, and politics today. This Tenth Anniversary Expanded Edition features a new foreword by Tavia Nyong’o and a postscript by Puar entitled “Homonationalism in Trump Times.” Nyong’o and Puar recontextualize the book in light of the current political moment while reposing its original questions to illuminate how Puar’s interventions are even more vital and necessary than ever.