February 17, 2011

Lisa Stampnitzky: Why 'terror studies' is so troublesome

"'Terrorism' has proved to be a highly problematic object of expertise," writes Lisa Stampnitzky, a former CISAC predoctoral fellow, in the journal Qualitative Sociology. "Terrorism studies fails to conform to the most common sociological notions of what a field of intellectual production ought to look like, and has been described by participants and observers alike as a failure. Yet the study of terrorism is a booming field, whether measured in terms of funding, publications, or numbers of aspiring experts." Read more »