Confronting the Terrorist/Refugee Narrative: The Promise of Storytelling

In a contemporary security environment conditioned by an almost-permanent sense of emergency, state security—in both a narrative and practical sense—has become increasingly defined by prevention. This logic has been vastly accelerated in a post-9/11 era in which governments posture to protect the sovereign against the threat of terrorism that is always ‘to come’; one that manifests from both within and beyond state borders. It is in this environment that particular categories of individuals have become identified as ‘more dangerous’ than others; Muslims, immigrants, refugees—Others.

Given that one of the pre-eminent logics of terrorism prevention has been the constriction of space(s) for expression—coupled with societal recourse to prejudice—refugees are not only silenced in this milieu, but silenced as ‘potential terrorists’. This paper will reflect on an ongoing project that seeks to provide a space for articulation in which refugees—and Others—can positively refute the label of ‘terrorism’ placed upon them. It will chart how the terrorist/refugee narrative has arisen and how it may be productively challenged by that which binds us all as human: the ability to tell stories.