SEMINAR PROFILE

H02 -
Understanding Terrorism through Literature and Film

Terrorism. Like most abstract nouns, its meaning varies wildly according to time and place and perspective. For some, the IRA in Ireland, or ETA in Spain, or the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, were freedom fighters. For others, they were terrorists. Similarly, the airplane hijackings of the 1970s, the kidnappings in Beirut, and the Baader-Meinhoff violence were either acts of ideology or acts of insanity. For most Americans, however, the definition of terrorism after September 11 is clearly and inextricably connected to Islamic fundamentalism and the bitter, tangled history and politics of the Middle East. Whatever its context and ostensible purpose, terrorism grows out of essential human experiences and emotions-fear and anger and passion and need-and these are the human experience that literature and film traditionally explore. Not surprisingly, then, the past fifteen years have seen a growing body of literary and cinematic depictions of the motives and meanings of terrorism, seeking to place the abstraction in a complex, specific human dimension. This course will read several texts and watch several films that explore the origins and implications of terrorism, and see what they tell us about its human dimension. Not all of the texts we read will be suited to junior high and high school readers, but we will make an effort, as we read these texts and watch these films, to develop a reading list that could be helpful for teachers.

Scholar:

Ann Murphy

Location:

Harvard Hillel

Dates:

1/7/2016, 1/15/2016

H02 -	Understanding Terrorism through Literature and Film

	Terrorism. Like most abstract nouns, its meaning varies wildly according to time and place and perspective. For some, the IRA in Ireland, or ETA in Spain, or the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, were freedom fighters. For others, they were terrorists. Similarly, the airplane hijackings of the 1970s, the kidnappings in Beirut, and the Baader-Meinhoff violence were either acts of ideology or acts of insanity. For most Americans, however, the definition of terrorism after September 11 is clearly and inextricably connected to Islamic fundamentalism and the bitter, tangled history and politics of the Middle East. Whatever its context and ostensible purpose, terrorism grows out of essential human experiences and emotions-fear and anger and passion and need-and these are the human experience that literature and film traditionally explore. Not surprisingly, then, the past fifteen years have seen a growing body of literary and cinematic depictions of the motives and meanings of terrorism, seeking to place the abstraction in a complex, specific human dimension. This course will read several texts and watch several films that explore the origins and implications of terrorism, and see what they tell us about its human dimension. Not all of the texts we read will be suited to junior high and high school readers, but we will make an effort, as we read these texts and watch these films, to develop a reading list that could be helpful for teachers.

		Scholar:	Ann Murphy
		Location:	Harvard Hillel
		Dates:	1/7/2016, 1/15/2016