APSA Task force web page
This is the first in a series of posts updating on resources availabe on the web on teaching about ‘terrorism’ and political violence.
I list here some resources which might be useful to use in teaching or to provide a counterpoint to other approaches.
The American Political Science Association, has a webpage on ‘Teaching about Terrorism after 9/11 and Iraq’ http://www.apsanet.org/section_496.cfm;It includes a number of useful resources.
There is also the APSA Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism the objective of which is ‘to assess the contribution of political science to the understanding of how trends in civil violence affect domestic and international political order and to share findings with the public.’ From APSA President Margaret Levi:
With the goal of enriching public understanding of the political violence and terrorism that so threaten national security, the American Political Science Association has constituted a Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism, chaired by Professor Martha Crenshaw, Stanford University. As with the earlier APSA Public Presence Task Forces, there are two primary and interdependent aims of this task force: first, to clarify what political scientists know on the subject; and, second, to covey this knowledge in a way that makes it accessible and useful to the media, policy-makers, an informed public (including our own members who are not specialists in the given area), and students. By making our expertise relevant to the debate, we hope to help raise the quality of public discourse.
Read more >>
If you click through there is a bibliography of political science sources on the study of political violence as well as ‘Exemplary syllabi‘ and a compilation of all of the 81 course reading lists the task force reviewed.
Other resources
Comments on, or evaluations of, these resources welcome:
Rethinking Schools (US) ‘War, Terrorism and Our Classrooms’ http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/sept11/index.shtml ;
Social Science Research Council Teaching Resource for High School and College Classrooms Using the SSRC’s “After September 11″ Essay Collection http://www.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/teaching_resource/tr_intro.htm;
US Diplomatic Mission to Germany ‘Teaching about Terrorism and Tolerance’ http://usa.usembassy.de/classroom/terrorism.htm ;
US Military Academy at West Point/ Combating Terrorism Center ‘Teaching Terror’ http://www.teachingterror.net/;
United States Institute for Peace, Teaching Guides: Teaching Guide on International Terrorism: Definitions, Causes and Responses http://www.usip.org/etc/tools_resources/guides/terrorism.html
Some more useful references:
Arshad R. et al (2006) Race Equality toolkit: Learning and Teaching A resource for mainstreaming race equality into learning and teaching in higher education, Edinburgh: Scottish Funding Council/Universities Scotland. Accessible from here: http://www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/raceequalitytoolkit/about_toolkit.htm
Gary Bunt (2007) ‘Studying Islam after 9-11: Reflections and Resources’, 17 April 2007 http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/view.html/prsdocuments/65
Gilligan, C. (no date) ‘The Place of Northern Ireland in Ethnic and Racial Studies’
http://www.teachingrace.bham.ac.uk/media/document/Place-of-NI-in-ERS.pdf
James J.F. Forest (2006) Teaching Terror: Strategic and Tactical Learning in the Terrorist World Rowman & Littlefield Publishers