Talking to Children about Terrorism (original) (raw)
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When terrorists strike: What school counselors can do
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Teaching about Terror: 9/11: Policy, Pedagogy, and Curricula
Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education, 2016
For many around the world, the attacks on 9/11 resulted in shock, grief, and trauma. Certainly it has dominated US national, as well as arguably global, politics since that day. After 9/11, countries like Spain and the UK experienced their own devastations in Madrid and London. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia were attacked, and inevitably, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and other countries have experienced frequent violence attributed to extremist elements and franchises. Fifteen years on, notions such as extremism, terrorism, and radicalization have become a part of the everyday parlance of citizens, governments, media, and NGOs/Community Based Organizations (CBOs) among others. In the definitional realm, these notions remain contentious. Despite the controversial nature of these notions, they have generally come to be synonymous with Islamic radicalism, terrorism, and extremism. The narratives built around these notions normalize them as associated with certain people, a particular religion, and specific cultures and histories. The normalized articulations are then inscribed on the bodies, dresses, behaviors, and beliefs of a vast number of people such that they reverberate with any and all acts of radicalization, extremism, and terrorism. Those associated with the exteriorized regions, religions and cultures consequently are pushed to the margins. Exteriority, conceptually, is an extreme form of marginalization as it manifests at multiple layers of the social ecology. The exteriorized are those outside social boundaries who are excluded from possessing basic rights, protection or resources (Hall, 2004). The exteriorized are considered "non-human" or as described by Fanon as "the wretched of the earth". These "others" are often either invisible, considered expendable, or are demonized when they come to the attention of those in the inner circle. Their voices are not likely to be heard as they are not comprehended by the ears of the fearful. Since 9/11, the West has defined extremism, and designated complete cultural groups as terrorists but more recently we learn that now the exteriorized are found both inside and outside the societal center. They are rumored to be "living among us" which creates a conceptual change to the notion of living beyond the margins. The circle is now conceived as having within it "dangerous others" (Hall, 2004) thus providing the fuel for fear and mistrust.
Combating Terrorism syllabus.docx
Students will learn to assess threats from terrorist groups and learn strategies for combating terrorism. Students will apply threat assessment methodology and combatting terrorism strategies to current and historical threat groups like ISIS, al Qaeda, Anonymous, and others. This course has two main elements. First, this course develops knowledge and understanding of current terrorist, insurgent, and criminal groups that threaten American security or national interests. The course readings and in-class discussion focuses on understanding and analyzing the origins, development, organizational structure, leadership, and purpose of various armed groups. Second, this course provides an explicit methodology for measuring and evaluating threats and ways to respond to those threats. Students will use the methods derived from risk management, threat assessment, and scenario planning, and military strategy to evaluate the level of threat for each group we cover in the course. We also draw on the public health, disaster management, social capital, and resilience literatures to develop ways to prevent, mitigate, and adapt to mass casualty events.
Journal for Deradicalization, 2019
This article outlines and critically discusses the securitisation of the counter-radicalisation efforts in Norwegian schools. More specifically, it explores perceptions offered by educators and youth social workers through interviews with 23 practitioners on the topic of preventing youth extremism. Through the narratives of these practitioners, the paper reveals a belief that education can contribute to counter-radicalisation efforts, by focusing on relational pedagogy, social interaction and the safeguarding of vulnerable youth. Nevertheless, the article outlines a concerning discursive practice, in which young Muslims are frequently framed as vulnerable to being radicalised towards violent extremism. There is, however, evidence of both hegemony and resistance regarding the framing of Islam as a security threat, as many practitioners state that the stigmatising and polarising portrayal of Muslim youth in politics and the media can affect progressive, liberal and inclusive education...
Terrorism and homeland security
Security Journal, 2014
There are now numerous texts available on both terrorism and homeland security for both the undergraduate and graduate level. However, many university departments, especially in these days of tight budgets, offer courses that combine both an introduction to terrorism and an introduction to homeland security in one 10-or 15-week term. There are few texts available that can meet this need. Gus Martin ' s Terrorism and Homeland Security does so admirably. Martin draws together the plethora of issues and literature prevalent in the realms of terrorism and homeland security in a readable and reachable fashion. In doing so, he expands on his previous works, such as The Essentials of Terrorism , and fi lls a much needed gap. Terrorism and Homeland Security is divided into four sections. The fi rst three chapters make up the fi rst section of the book-Part I: Understanding Terrorism: A Conceptual Review-and provide the reader with the basic tools and terminology needed to critically read and review any material dealing with terrorism. Chapter 1, The Nature of the Beast : Defi ning Terrorism , tackles the diffi cult task of defi ning terrorism and distinguishing between terrorism and other types of political violence. In particular, the chapter begins with an excellent description of political extremism and emphasizes that while terrorism is almost always based on some form of extremism, not all extremism results in violence or terrorism. In this chapter, Martin also describes the obstacles inherent in defi ning terrorism, provides a sampling of the many available defi nitions in both academia and government, and discusses the different ways the literature has characterized terrorism by type. Chapter 2, The Past as Prologue: Historical Perspectives and Ideological Origins , draws students ' attention to the idea that terrorism did not ' arise from a political vacuum ' (p. 27) nor did it spring full-blown into existence on September 11, 2001. Martin begins this chapter by looking at the classical ideological origins of terrorism and extremism. In doing so, Martin expands on the idea introduced in Chapter 1 that terrorism is based on some type of extremist ideology or belief system. After providing a historical overview of the origins of terrorism from antiquity through nineteenth century Europe and Russia, Martin introduces the concept of the ' New Terrorism ' , highlighting its loose cell structure, more vaguely defi ned goals and tendency toward signifi cantly higher casualty rates. Chapter 3, Beginnings: Causes of Terrorist Violence , is the fi nal chapter in Part I. In it Martin reviews a number of the scholarly approaches to explaining how and why terrorism occurs. He identifi es three types of explanations for the causes of terrorism: the political explanation, the sociological explanation and the psychological explanation. Martin emphasizes that the myth that terrorists act out of insane or irrational manifestations is just that-a
NATO Exploratory Research Group “Child Warriors as the Opposing Force" Report, 2006
As a research psychologist I have had the opportunity to travel extensively and visit some of the toughest conflict zones in the world to interview and engage terrorists, family members and close associates of terrorists and even hostages of terrorists in discussions about how they behave and what motivates them. I have been particularly interested in the senders of suicide bombers and the individuals both young and old, male and female who volunteer to take on “martyrdom” missions. In these research trips I have observed and conversed with many parents of children involved in terrorism, as well as children themselves. The countries where I have conducted field research include Lebanon, Palestine, Israel (jailed terrorists), Russia, Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Jordan and Iraq (detainees) as well as in Western Europe studying radicals in Belgium, the Netherlands, UK and France. When we talk about children’s involvement with terrorism we have to think first about who children are developmentally and the effects of psycho-social and environmental context on their emotional, cognitive and behavioral state, developmental progress and about how children respond to real events in their lives. As far as my research is concerned I have found that there two clear distinct pathways for individuals to move onto the terrorist trajectory and they differ dramatically by the context in which they occur: within or outside of conflict zones, both of which will be discussed herein (Speckhard, 2005a, 2006, 2007a; Speckhard & Ahkmedova, 2005).
University of Stavanger, 2020
Article II Sjøen, M. M. & Mattsson, C. (2019). Preventing radicalisation in Norwegian schools: How teachers respond to counterradicalisation efforts. Critical Studies on Terrorism. Article III Sjøen, M. M. (2019). When counterterrorism enters the curriculum: How the global war on terror risks impairing good education. Journal for Deradicalization, 20, 156-189. Article IV Sjøen, M. M. & Jore, S. H. (2019). How the counter-radicalization discourse securitizes education and why this might not be an effective approach to preventing terrorism. In M. Beer & E. Zio (Eds.