Table Of ContentTimes of Terror
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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
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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
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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
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ISBN 978-1-349-30866-8 ISBN 978-0-230-24363-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230243637
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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
