September 11 in History: A Watershed Moment? Introduction

Abstract

Within hours after collapse of Twin Towers, idea that 11 attacks had permeated American popular and political discussion. As Introduction to this edited volume argues, in period since 11, notion that 9/11 changed nation and world has been used to justify profound changes in U.S. law, public policy and foreign relations. Bringing together leading scholars of history, law, literature, and Islam, September 11 in asks whether attacks and their aftermath truly marked a transition in U.S. and world history or whether they are best understood as part of pre-existing historical trajectories. From a variety of perspectives, contributors to this collection scrutinize claims about 11. Essays range from an analysis of terms like Ground Zero, Homeland, and the Axis of Evil to an argument that U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay has become a site for acting out a repressed imperial history. Examining effect of attacks on Islamic self-identity, one contributor argues that Osama bin Laden enacted an interpretation of Islam on 11 and asserts that progressive Muslims must respond to it. Other essays by legal scholars focus on citizenship and deployment of Orientalist tropes in categorizations of those who look Middle Eastern, blurring of domestic and international law evident in a number of legal developments including use of military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists, question of whether 11 should cause a paradigm shift in international law, and justifications for and consequences of American unilateralism. This collection ultimately reveals that everything did not change on 11, 2001, but that some bedrocks of democratic legitimacy have been significantly eroded by claims that it did. Contributors include: Khaled Abou el Fadl, UCLA Law School; Mary L. Dudziak, USC Law School; Christopher L. Eisgruber, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; Laurence R. Helfer, Loyola Law School; Sherman A. Jackson, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan; Amy B. Kaplan, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania; Elaine Tyler May, Departments of History and American Studies, University of Minnesota; Lawrence G. Sager, University of Texas Law School; Ruti G. Teitel, New York Law School; Leti Volpp; American University Law School; Marilyn B. Young, Department of History, New York University.