Hours
after the collapse of the twin towers, the idea that the September 11 attacks
had "changed everything" permeated American popular and political
discussion. In the period since then, the events of September 11 have been
used to justify profound changes in U.S. public policy and foreign
relations. Bringing together leading scholars of history, law, literature,
and Islam, September 11 in History asks whether the attacks and
their aftermath truly marked a transition in U.S. and world history or whether they
are best understood in the context of pre-existing historical trajectories.
From a variety of perspectives,
the contributors to this collection scrutinize claims about September 11, in
terms of both their historical validity and their consequences. Essays range
from an analysis of terms like "ground zero", "homeland",
and "the axis of evil" to an argument that the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay has become a site for acting out a
repressed imperial history. Examining the effect of the attacks on Islamic
self-identity, one contributor argues that Ossama
bin Laden enacted an interpretation of Islam on September 11 and asserts that
progressive Muslims must respond to it. Other essays focus on the deployment
of Orientalist tropes in categorizations of those
who "look Middle Eastern", the blurring of the domestic and
international law evident in a number of legal developments including the use
of military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists, and the
justifications for the consequences of American unilateralism. This
collection ultimately reveals that everything did not change on September 11, 2001, but that some foundations of democratic legitimacy have
been significantly eroded by claims that did it.
Mary
L. Dudziak is Judge Edward J. and Ruey L. Guirado Professor of Law and History at the University of Southern California Law School. She is the author of Cold War
Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.
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