Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
Terrorism, Gender, Race, Intersectionality, Victimhood, Rapoport, New Wave
Department
Political Science
Major
Political Science
Abstract
El-Nawawy and El-Masry (2017) argue that media “devalue black lives” and “race, then, cannot be ignored as a factor” when considering the media and political treatment of terrorism’s victims (2017, 1810). Furthermore, media give less coverage to victims of terrorism in attacks occurring in countries outside the Global North (Nevalsky 2015). In this paper, we theorize race and terrorism along with gender. We discuss the ways that scholarship, media, and political actors give (or do not give) attention to victims of terrorism. We show through a historical analysis of Rapoport’s waves of terrorism and an analysis of recent cases of terrorism that gender and race are embedded in the experiences of terrorism victims/survivors. Thus, we suggest that scholars should take account of race and gender --in terms of individual identities and structures that reinforce race and gender -- as they analyze terrorism victimhood. We argue that they do so in order to capture the political agency of victims who seek social services and political memory, which can be raced and gendered as well.
Faculty Mentor
Candice Ortbals
Funding Source or Research Program
Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative
Presentation Session
Session B
Start Date
23-4-2021 3:15 PM
End Date
23-4-2021 3:30 PM
Included in
Victims of Terrorism at the Intersection of Race and Gender
El-Nawawy and El-Masry (2017) argue that media “devalue black lives” and “race, then, cannot be ignored as a factor” when considering the media and political treatment of terrorism’s victims (2017, 1810). Furthermore, media give less coverage to victims of terrorism in attacks occurring in countries outside the Global North (Nevalsky 2015). In this paper, we theorize race and terrorism along with gender. We discuss the ways that scholarship, media, and political actors give (or do not give) attention to victims of terrorism. We show through a historical analysis of Rapoport’s waves of terrorism and an analysis of recent cases of terrorism that gender and race are embedded in the experiences of terrorism victims/survivors. Thus, we suggest that scholars should take account of race and gender --in terms of individual identities and structures that reinforce race and gender -- as they analyze terrorism victimhood. We argue that they do so in order to capture the political agency of victims who seek social services and political memory, which can be raced and gendered as well.