TERROR AND HISTORY: A special issue of the Radical History Review
- How do we distinguish “terror” from other forms of political violence? Can we, or should we?
- Is “state terror” a useful category, or an obfuscation?
- How has terror or terrorism been justified, and when, and by whom?
- Can terrorism of one or any sort be justified, from a left or radical perspective?
- What does it mean to refer to “terrorism” and “terrorists” as something other than a polemical term for a particular group in a particular situation?
- Does terrorism as a political strategy have an affinity for, or historic relationship to, certain types of movements?
- Conversely, are there categories of political struggle where terrorism is rarely or never used, and if so, why?
- Can we distinguish between terrorisms of right and left, or do they affect societies, cultures, peoples and governments in the same way?
- Is “terrorism” a recognizably modern or postmodern phenomenon, linked to the creation of “the nation” or other universalistic categories?
- What is the relationship of “terror” (the Terror) to the various international lett traditions (Jacobin, anti-colonial, anarchist, communist and so on)?
The Radical History Review is planning a thematic issue that will seek a range of answers to these and other questions provoked by the historical phenomenon of terrorism, in both its most recent guise (the September 11 events), and over the past two or more centuries. We seek monographic articles, debates, exchanges, essays, reviews (of books, films, exhibits, and more) and personal/political reflections that address one or more of these questions, or pose new ones related to this large category of political action.
Like our journal, this issue has an explicitly political purpose, and all submissions or proposals should embody some perspective, worldview or critique that is more than merely scholarly. Our purpose is to provoke thought, and de-mystify a highly charged and reified discourse by embedding it in a larger historical context.
We are particularly interested in short essays or articles, not in conventional monographic form, which directly address and assess the politics of states and societies where terrorist violence has been a significant factor over time, e.g. Ireland, India, the American South, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the Central American republics, Sri Lanka, Peru, and so on. We also invite submissions on the lineages of terror from 1789 (or before) through the present, ideological critiques or defenses of terrorism (e.g. Sorel, Trotsky, Weil, Fanon, Gandhi), and discussions over its representation (for example, The Battle of Algiers).
The final deadline for submission to this issue is March 1, 2002. Potential authors should contact the issue coordinator, Van Gosse well in advance of that date to discuss their proposals.
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