September 11 in History

A Watershed Moment?

Autor: Dudziak, Mary L.; Joseph, Gilbert M.; Rosenberg, Emily S.; Young, Marilyn B.; May, Elaine Tyler
Editor: Duke University Press
Colección: American Encounters/Global Interactions
ISBN: 9780822332299
eISBN Pdf: 9780822384939
Lugar de publicación: Durham , Estados Unidos
Año de publicación digital: 2003
Mes: Octubre
Páginas: 254
DDC: 973.931
Idioma: Ingles

Descripción

Hours after the collapse of the Twin Towers, the idea that the September 11 attacks had “changed everything” permeated American popular and political discussion. In the period since then, the events of September 11 have been used to justify profound changes in U.S. public policy and foreign relations. Bringing together leading scholars of history, law, literature, and Islam, September 11 in History asks whether the attacks and their aftermath truly marked a transition in U.S. and world history or whether they are best understood in the context of pre-existing historical trajectories.

From a variety of perspectives, the contributors to this collection scrutinize claims about September 11, in terms of both their historical validity and their consequences. Essays range from an analysis of terms like “ground zero,” “homeland,” and “the axis of evil” to an argument that the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay has become a site for acting out a repressed imperial history. Examining the effect of the attacks on Islamic self-identity, one contributor argues that Osama bin Laden enacted an interpretation of Islam on September 11 and asserts that progressive Muslims must respond to it. Other essays focus on the deployment of Orientalist tropes in categorizations of those who “look Middle Eastern,” the blurring of domestic and international law evident in a number of legal developments including the use of military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists, and the justifications for and consequences of American unilateralism. This collection ultimately reveals that everything did not change on September 11, 2001, but that some foundations of democratic legitimacy have been significantly eroded by claims that it did.

Contributors
Khaled Abou el Fadl
Mary L. Dudziak
Christopher L. Eisgruber
Laurence R. Helfer
Sherman A. Jackson
Amy B. Kaplan
Elaine Tyler May
Lawrence G. Sager
Ruti G. Teitel
Leti Volpp
Marilyn B. Young

Contents
Introduction
Ground Zero: Enduring War
Echoes of the Cold War: The Aftermath of September 11 at Home
Homeland Insecurities: Transformations of Language and Space
9/11 and the Muslim Transformation
Islam(s) East and West: Pluralism between No-Frills and Designer Fundamentalism
The Citizen and the Terrorist
Civil Liberties in the Dragons’ Domain: Negotiating the Blurred Boundary between Domestic Law and Foreign Affairs after 9/11
Transforming International Law after the September 11 Attacks? Three Evolving Paradigms for Regulating International Terrorism
Empire’s Law: Foreign Relations by Presidential Fiat
Afterword: Remembering September 11
For Further Reading
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Index