In terror's wake: Text,power and knowledge in the aftermath of 11 September, 2001

Abstract

Terror, war, death and destruction are on the lips of politicians, commentators, observers and activists concerned with the ‘war against terror’. Since the tragic events of 11 September, 2001 various intellectual struggles, tensions and controversies have arisen as writers, often from hostile and competing camps, seek to understand and interpret the nature, meaning and consequences of the attack. This article focuses on three genres of post‐'9/11’ textual discourse that have arisen in book form: ‘critical contextual’, ‘moral philosophical’ and ‘reflective parochial’. Each body of work is distinguished broadly by a shared analytical and intellectual trajectory that defines its discursive parameters of analysis and interpretation. We argue that given the prevailing political context in the wake of 11 September — typified by a deep sense of insecurity, risk, suspicion of uncertainty, and denial of ethical dilemmas ‐ and many of the policy measures that have resulted from these, critical contextual texts have been largely relegated by the powerful to the margins of heretic ‘irrelevance’. Despite this, critical contextual works have undoubtedly had a profound and lasting effect upon ‘public opinion’, in spite of attempts to diminish the credibility of such accounts.