Times of Terror: Discourse, Temporality and the War on Terror PDF
Preview Times of Terror: Discourse, Temporality and the War on Terror
Times of Terror This page intentionally left blank Times of Terror Discourse, Temporality, and the War on Terror Lee Jarvis Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, Swansea University, UK © Lee Jarvis 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-22369-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identifified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN 978-1-349-30866-8 ISBN 978-0-230-24363-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230243637 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jarvis, Lee, 1979– Times of terror : discourse, temporality, and the War on Terror/ Lee Jarvis. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. War on Terrorism, 2001- 2. Critical discourse analysis. 3. Time. I. Title. HV6431.J38 2009 363.325—dc22 2009013621 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 For my parents, with love and thanks Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 The (Long) (Global) War on Terror(ism) 3 The War on Terror as political discourse 6 Time for critical terrorism studies 11 Methodological reflections 17 Book structure 22 2 Making Time, Shaping Time 25 Social time 27 From social time to narrative time 32 Temporal shapes 35 Conclusion 40 3 Writing Radical Discontinuity 42 Prefacing radical discontinuity: Writing 9/11 as rupture 44 Writing temporal discontinuity 63 Writing 9/11 as warning/lesson 65 Writing 9/11 as declaration/instigation of war 79 Writing self-transformation 88 Conclusion 95 4 Writing Linear Times 98 Writing 9/11 as precedented continuity 100 Writing return to (moderated) normality 112 Writing progress into the War on Terror 122 Conclusion 131 5 Writing Timelessness 133 Writing good versus evil 134 Writing freedom versus fear 146 Conclusion 157 vii viii Contents 6 Time, Violence, Identity, Politics 159 Times of terror revisited 159 Time and violence 162 Time and identity 164 Time and the political 166 Bibliography 168 List of Sources 178 Index 198 Preface This book has been in the making for a long time, accompanying my own personal journey through the universities of Birmingham, Oxford Brookes, and Swansea. Although I have benefited immeasurably from the advice, insights, and knowledge of very many individuals at each of those institutions and beyond, I would like to extend a particular note of gratitude to the following for their help, support, and encouragement along the way: Stephen R. Bates, Claes Belfrage, David Hudson, Richard Jackson, Laura Jenkins, Donna Lee, Tim Legrand, Michael Lister, Emily Pia, Magnus Ryner, Laura J. Shepherd, Jill Steans, Daniela Tepe, Matthew Watson, and Paul D. Williams. I would also like to thank the ESRC for providing the initial funding that was required for my research with the award PTA: 030 2003 00614. And, at Palgrave Macmillan, I am most grateful indeed to Alexandra Webster and Renee Takken for their support and continuing assistance in seeing this project progress from proposal to finish. Finally, this book both draws on and extends the arguments presented in an earlier article “Times of terror: writing temporality into the War on Terror”,Critical Studies on Terrorism1(2), pp. 245–62, available through: http://www.i nformaworld.com. I am grateful to Taylor & Francis for their permitting my using this material. On a more personal note, I would like to express my profound grati- tude to thosemost important people without whose support this book would never have been completed. To Aya, whose generosity of spirit, incredible energy, and unwavering embrace of life has given me the determination to keep going with this project: thank you so very much, I couldn’t have done it without you! To my wider family that have encouraged and supported me throughout – and particularly to John and Doreen for their reading of earlier drafts of this book – I am deeply grateful again. To my brother Greg and sister Kerri, for helping me stay focused on the important things in life: thank you both. And, finally, for sparking my interest in the political, and helping me sustain that interest in more ways than I remember, this text is my parents’ as much as it is mine. If not complicit in its shortcomings or limits, they are equally responsible for any contribution it may make. For these reasons, this book is dedicated to them. I wish I had more to offer. Lee Jarvis ix
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