Globalizing Collateral Language - (Studies in Security and International Affairs) by Somdeep Sen & John Collins (Paperback)

About the Book

"Language is never just a means of communication. It terrorizes. And, especially in times of war, it has the ability to target civilians and generate fear as a means of producing specific political outcomes, most notably the passive and active acceptance of state violence itself. For this reason, the critical examination of language must be a central part of any effort to fight imperialism, militarism, demagoguery, racism, sexism, and other structures of injustice. Globalizing Collateral Language examines the discourse surrounding 9/11 and its entrenchment in global politics and culture. To interrogate this wartime lexicon of "collateral language," editors John Collins and Somdeep Sen have assembled a volume of critical essays that explores the long shadow of America's "War on Terror" discourse. They illuminate how this language has now found resonance across the globe and in political projects that have little to do with the "War on Terror." Two decades after the attacks of September 11, 2001, this book calls on us to resist the tyranny of collateral language at a time when the need for such interventions in the public sphere is more urgent than ever."--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

Language is never just a means of communication. It terrorizes. And, especially in times of war, it has the ability to target civilians and generate fear as a means of producing specific political outcomes, most notably the passive and active acceptance of state violence itself. For this reason, the critical examination of language must be a central part of any effort to fight imperialism, militarism, demagoguery, racism, sexism, and other structures of injustice. Globalizing Collateral Language examines the discourse surrounding 9/11 and its entrenchment in global politics and culture.

To interrogate this wartime lexicon of "collateral language," editors John Collins and Somdeep Sen have assembled a volume of critical essays that explores the long shadow of America's "War on Terror" discourse. They illuminate how this language has now found resonance across the globe and in political projects that have little to do with the "War on Terror." Two decades after the attacks of September 11, 2001, this book calls on us to resist the tyranny of collateral language at a time when the need for such interventions in the public sphere is more urgent than ever.

Review Quotes

Globalizing Collateral Language is an indispensable primer for making sense of how the linguistic defines the limits of our imaginations and animates the world around us. Expanding the sphere of the original volume, Collins and Sen curate terms that illuminate the evolving lexicon of the globalized war on terror as it collaborates and collides with localized forms of authoritarianism and struggles for freedom.--Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez "author of Securing Paradise: Tourism and Militarism in Hawai'i and the Philippines"

A timely and principled intervention, this collection of critical reflections in the best tradition of George Orwell helps us think again about the destructive power of 'doublespeak.' Through their diverse analyses of the ways language can cloak the machinations of the powerful, the authors gathered here encourage us to reject endless war.--Lori Allen "author of A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in Palestine"

The central claim of Globalizing Collateral Language, that 'language is never just a means of communication, ' burns with relevance ever more so today.--Waleed Hazbun "coeditor of New Conflict Dynamics: Between Regional Autonomy and Intervention in the Middle East and North Africa"

About the Author

Somdeep Sen (Editor)
SOMDEEP SEN is an associate professor in international development studies at Roskilde University. He is the author of Decolonizing Palestine: Hamas between the Anticolonial and Postcolonial and the coauthor of The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank: The Theatrics of Woeful Statecraft with Michelle Pace. He has also published in the Huffington Post, Open Democracy, and the London Review of Books, as well as contributed to many other edited collections.

John Collins (Editor)
JOHN COLLINS is professor of global studies at St. Lawrence University and the editorial director of Weave News. He is the author of Global Palestine and coauthor with Eve W. Stoddard of Social and Cultural Foundations in Global Studies. He lives in Canton, New York.