ABSTRACT
The argument for integrating temporality into the critical study of “terrorism” is well established. As early as 2003, Maja Zehfuss called for critical researchers to “forget 9/11”. The genealogical approach outlined in the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault presents one route to historicising terrorism. Like CTS, genealogy advances a critical ontology of values. As Nietzsche argued, “only that which is without history can be defined” – since any concept with a history carries a baggage of conflicting meanings. Genealogy exposes the contingency of concepts’ present operation, by tracing their histories and exploring evolutions in discursive function. The concept of terrorism which emerges through the Report is one that only makes sense in relation to this familiar conceptual architecture. “Terrorism”, in the Gardiner Report, is an abnormal, extraordinary, troubling form of violence – reflecting Northern Irish society’s equally abnormal, extraordinary, troubling character.
