Call for papers for the Joint Meeting on "Teaching and Researching
Terrorism"

Sponsored by the BISA Critical Studies on Terrorism Group and the Teaching
About Terrorism Special Interest Group of C-SAP. Supported by the Consortium for Research on Terrorology and Political Violence.

Date of Meeting: 15th -16th September 2010
Place: School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester

The goal of the meeting is to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue between academics dealing with the issue of terrorism. We cordially invite submissions from researchers in any field of social sciences to present their research and participate in interdisciplinary discussions. It is intended that a selection of papers will be published as part of a special issue or section in the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism (Routledge).

Topics for panels include, but are not limited to the following:

*Teaching About Terrorism: The arrest of Nottingham University postgraduate student Rizwaan Sabir and a Nottingham administrator Hicham Yezza in relation to the downloading of an 'Al Qaeda' manual for Rizwaan's dissertation research has highlighted the emerging and ongoing difficulties of teaching about 'terrorism' and political violence in the current climate. This panel seeks papers which explore cases of controversy or examine the practice of teaching about terrorism. What issues are faced in teaching sensitive issues like terrorism? What constraints are faced on teaching about terrorism and political violence and what should be the response of academics to these constraints? How to challenge students’ preconceptions on political violence, how to question mainstream discourses and narratives on terrorism/antiterrorism? What materials are relevant and how to integrate them into the classroom? The panel aims at highlighting the teaching methods and the inherent methodological and epistemological problems of research-based teaching. It could include reports of particular cases or wider analyses including identifying and understanding the approach and substance employed in countries and establishments outside the US and Western Europe.

*Western State Terrorism: State Terrorism is widely agreed to be the most common and widespread kind of terrorism, yet it is subjected to much less analysis and teaching than non-state terror. This panel seeks papers on state terrorism which explore definitions, practices, historical trajectories and questions of how to counter state terror. In particular papers on aspects of Western state terrorism are welcome.

*The value of the historic dimension? Terrorism is not new, nor is the so-called 'modern' form a recent development, even if advances in ICT have increased its reach and significance. This panel seeks to evaluate whether treating terrorism as a modern phenomenon magnifies its significance and prevents rational debate or whether seeing terrorism as a normal part of the politics of violence is to misunderstand the 'new' dimension.

*Researching Terrorism: This panel invites papers on the challenges and opportunities of researching terrorism. How do longstanding and recent additions to anti-terrorist legislation impact on academic research. How are researchers inhibited or facilitated in attempts to research terrorism? What kinds of research on terrorism are there? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How independent could or should research on terrorism be? How independent is it?

These topics are interpreted in the broadest sense. We invite papers also
from any other areas that engage with Critical Terrorism Studies. There is no charge for admission.

To submit a proposal:
Please send an abstract of max. 300 words no later than March 1, 2010 by
e-mail to piers.robinson@manchester.ac.uk