Introduction: Terrorism and Cultural Theory: The Singularity of 9/11

Abstract

The essays in this collection seek to interpret the events of September 11, 2001 from the perspective of cultural theory?that is, from the perspective of the anthropological and social forces that motivate human beings and give meaning to their thoughts, actions, and feelings. Addressing the events that shape our world and our worldviews, particularly those possessing a symbolic dimension that cries out for interpretation, explanation, or reckoning, cultural theory brings us back to integrated modes of thought that have by and large been lost with the increased specialization and compartmentalization of the academy and of intellectual life in general. But to call cultural theory //interdisciplinary/, is already to ratify the divisions this concept presupposes, and that cultural theory itself calls into question. Though the contributors to this volume work within various disciplines, their approach is necessarily holistic?because of the very nature of the event, which resonates on many levels (anthropological, social, historical) and in diverse spheres of human activity (religion, politics, the media). In the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there was indeed, among the Western intelligentsia, a great effort to come to terms with what had happened. For the attacks appeared to have been aimed not just at the United States but at the Western world itself, with New York as its symbolic capital. Transatlantic intellectuals such as Jacques Derrida, Jiirgen Habermas, Noam Chomsky, and Rene Girard gave interviews;1 cultural critics such as Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek published short, polemical tracts;2 and the journalists and political scientists produced all manner of books on jihadism, Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda. This frenzy of intellectual activity coincided with an upsurge of interest in and fascination with the Arab Muslim world among the general public. Programs in Middle Eastern studies were created or expanded; enrollments in Arabic language courses