I’d rather have a fast life & then death: Terrorist Time in West German post-terrorist autobiography
Channel: War Studies KCL
Date: 2022-05-26

From the persistent threat of sudden death, through the rapid pace of a violent action, to the monotonous, repetitive and dragging quality of everyday life ‘underground’, involvement in terrorism can lead to a very particular experience of time.

This event will explore constructions of ‘terrorist time’ in memoirs written by former members of West German terrorist organisations Red Army Faction and Movement 2nd June - both founded during the 1970s - with particular reference to how they’re shaped by gender and class.

Dr Clare Bielby will discuss the structures of terrorism, from the systems of everyday life to its function to resist hetero/normative gendered and classed scripts, and argue that if we want to better understand terrorism and the attractions of ‘doing’ terrorism, we need to think about experiences of time.