A Trojan horse of a different colour

Counterterrorism and Islamophobia in Alan Gibbons’ An Act of Love and Anna Perera’s Guantanamo Boy

Bibliographic Data

ID12918693
AuthorsBlanka Grzegorczyk (0000-0001-5432-7234, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume11
Issue1
Pages26-44
Publication date2017-11-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Studies on Terrorism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-9161 • E-ISSN: 1753-9153
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17539153.2017.1399853
OpenAlexW2767609040
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited32

Alan Gibbons’ An Act of Love and Anna Perera’s Guantanamo Boy offer a poignant treatment of a personal and political desire for vengeance in response to terrorism, and of the consequent erosion of particular communities. This article provides a critical reading of Gibbons’ and Perera’s novels through the lens of postcolonial and terrorism studies. It argues that they can be read as instances of the refashioning of individual and communal identities in response to increased surveillance and disciplinary measures overseen by the British state and shows that the undermining of simplistic dichotomies in these novels is the primary route by which principles of familial and communal responsibility are re-established. From this perspective, the novels are seen to open post-9/11 British social and political relations to postcolonial critique. The article draws attention to the contemporary children’s novel as a socially and politically engaged form that offers powerful fictional interventions into the post-9/11 landscape, where some groups have been affected more than others by the repercussions of acts of terrorism and violence

Criminology · Dichotomy · Epistemology · Islamophobia · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Terrorism · Trojan horse · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Torture, Ethics, and Law