Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror

by Sophia A. McClennen, Henry James Morello (Editor)

Overview

Written in the context of critical dialogues about the war on terror and the global crisis in human rights violations, authors of this collected volume discuss aspects of terror with regard to human rights events across the globe, but especially in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Their discussion and reflection demonstrate that the need to question continuously and to engage in permanent critique does not contradict the need to seek answers, to advocate social change, and to intervene critically. With contributions by scholars, activists, and artists, the articles collected here offer strategies for intervening critically in debates about the connections between terror and human rights as they are taking place across contemporary society. The work presented in the volume is intended for scholars, as well as undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, including political science, sociology, history, literary study, cultural studies, and cultural anthropology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557535689
Publisher:	Purdue University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2010
Series:	Comparative Cultural Studies
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Sophia A. McClennen teaches comparative literature, Spanish, and women's studies at Penn State University. She is the author of, among many other articles and books, The Dialectics of Exile: Nation, Time, Language and Space in Hispanic Literatures (Purdue UP, 2004) and Ariel Dorfman: An Aesthetics of Hope (Duke UP, 2009). Her PhD in Spanish and Latin American literature is from Duke University.

Henry James Morello teaches comparative literature, Spanish, and film at Penn State University. His research interests include theatre and film from Latin America and Spain, posttraumatic culture, and comparative cultural studies. He has published on the uses of the Internet by the Zapatistas in Chiapas. His PhD in Hispanic studies is from the University of Illinois.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror Sophia A. McClennen Henry James Morello 1

Part 1 Human Rights

Democracy's Promise and the Politics of Worldliness in the Age of Terror Henry A. Giroux 17

The Humanities, Human Rights, and the Comparative Imagination Sophia A. McClennen 36

The Logic and Language of Torture Jonathan H. Marks 58

Narration in International Human Rights Law Joseph R. Slaughter 75

On Linguistic Human Rights and the United States "Foreign" Language Crisis Domna Stanton 95

The Black Body and Representations of the (In)human Li-Chun Hsiao 109

Part 2 Media

The Terrorist Event Bill Nichols 127

Reading South African Media Representations of Islam after 11 September 2001 Gabeba Baderoon 143

Collateral Damage and the "Incident" at Haditha Tom Engelhardt 159

The Tortured Body, the Photograph, and the US War on Terror Julie Gerk Hernandez 174

Mass-Mediated Social Terror in Spain Nicholas Manganas 187

Media in a Capitalist Culture Barbara Trent 206

Part 3 Analysis

Textual Strategies to Resist Disappearance and the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Alicia Partnoy 221

The Global Phenomenon of "Humanizing" Terrorism in Literature and Cinema Elaine Martin 232

Landmines, HIV/AIDS, and Africa's New Generation Barbara Harlow 243

Dorfman, Schubert, and Death and the Maiden David Schroeder 252

Bearing Witness through Fiction Carolina Rocha 262

Part 4 Artists

Globalizing Compassion, Photography, and the Challenge of Terror Ariel Dorfman 275

A Monk's Tale Sam Hamill 281

Poetry and the Aesthetic of Morality Michael McIrvin 296

Artists in Times of War Howard Zinn 309

Part 5 Bibliography

Selected Bibliography of Comparative Studies on Human Rights Cuiture Henry James Morello 321

Contributors' Profiles 337

Index 343