Language and Terror

Dr Kamran Khan, University of Birmingham

This paper theorises the historical role of terror and language. Terror, and the defence against terror, is central to contemporary forms of security. Terror is essential to situating violences in the name of power, colonialism and revolution.  In this sense, terror is foundational for our understandings of modernity. These violences can be accompanied by forms of standardisation through language which are imposed on subjects as violence In the name of sovereignty expands. The role of language within the expansion represents a form of ‘civilising’ the Other and a distinction from the Other. I draw on Derrida’s application of terror through the demarcation of the beast and the sovereign which is applied to those who fall outside of the legitimate populace. I will apply this theorisation of terror to more contemporary issues such as language in relation to racialised populations as is the case with immigration. This connects to the ‘Affective Institutions and Politics’ panel by considering how sovereignty - based on time, space, language and the Other – as theorised by Derrida provides the bedrock for forms of language policy.

Bio: Kamran Khan is currently the director of the MOSAIC research group on multilingualism and an associate professor of language, social justice and education. He has been a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow and worked on ESRC (Economic, Social and Research Council), European Commission and British Academy projects. He has worked in Denmark, Spain and Japan previously.