Terrorist transgressions: network on gendered representations of the terrorist

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Through a series of workshops including a summary conference, 'Terrorist transgressions: network on gendered representations of the terrorist' will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to investigate how the terrorist has been represented in the visual arts, film, photography and the media. It is particularly concerned with the question of gender. The network aims to advance knowledge on the cultural representation of gender, agency and violence and to foster collaborations and scholarly exchanges on cultural representations of the terrorist.In 1984, Frederic Jameson wrote that 'the image of the 'terrorist'... is one of the privileged forms in which an ahistorical society imagines radical social change', displacing older images of criminals, revolutionaries and even the veteran ('Periodizing the 60s.'). The terrorist has been constructed as the epitome of transgression against economic resources and moral, physical and political boundaries. Although terrorism has been the focus of intense academic activity in recent years, especially in the fields of politics and international relations, cultural representations of the terrorist have received less attention. Yet terrorism is dependent on spectacle and the topic is subject to forceful exposure in popular media. Dissident organisations produce images of the terrorist, for example as martyr, hero or avenger. Agencies, including national authorities, involved in combating terrorism, need to visualise the terrorist in order to give identity to the threat. The terrorist is mainly imagined as a male figure but women have been active in terrorist organisations since the late 19th century. Particularly since the 1980s, women have perpetrated suicidal terrorist attacks, including suicide bombing, where the body becomes a weapon. Such attacks have confounded constructions of femininity and masculinity, with profound implications for the gendering of violence and horror. The image of the terrorist, whether positive or negative, is always a gendered one. The primary aim of the Terrorist Transgressions network is to analyse the myths inscribed in these images and identify how agency is attributed to representation through invocations and inversions of gender stereotypes. The network will organise a series of four events under the following themes: Avant-gardes, terrorists and gender; Suicide Bombers: the body as weapon; Terrorism, liberation and spectacles of hyper-masculinity; Violence, horror and gender. One workshop will be held in collaboration with the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The network's participants have expertise in different cultures including Europe, Israel and North Africa, and bring various perspectives including feminist and post-colonial theory and memory cultures. Network members work on visual culture, art history, film and literature. The network aims to contribute findings about the cultural representation of terrorism to the AHRC's priority area, 2008-2011, 'Global threats to security' as part of Research Councils UK's priority theme 'Global Uncertainties'.