CRITICAL TERRORISM STUDIES

This course introduces students to the main concerns raised by critical terrorism studies. Working within the critical security studies tradition, critical terrorism studies argue that mainstream terrorism studies has not been open to new challenges and perspectives. As such, terrorism studies problematically reifies particular sites and structures of power. Because of this perspective, critical terrorism studies poses several challenges to terrorism studies about how terrorism is defined and limited to particular actors. This course explores these challenges, which include state terrorism, the discourse of radicalization, and the role of emotion before turning to the intended outcome of critical terrorism studies scholarship: emancipatory practices.