Terrorism,Myth,and the Power of Ethnographic Praxis

Abstract

“Terrorism,” like “witchcraft,” is a concept that anthropology can aid in deconstructing. The mythos of “the terrorist” has become part of the political drama of our time despite a lack of concreteness in its definition. Drawing on a decade of ethnographic research with Sikh separatist militants, this article focuses on how the imagining of terror has replaced the reality of armed conflict among the Sikhs in Western legal and policy settings. Specific examples of anthropological intervention in this arena illustrate how face-to-face knowledge can contribute to greater accuracy in judicial and legislative decisions regarding terrorism. Given the life-and-death importance of these decisions, anthropologists of conscience are called on to offer the very special grassroots perspective they have as policies are developed nationally and internationally, bringing the concrete realism of ethnography into courtrooms, halls of parliaments, and executive offices around the world.

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