Reading (counter)terrorism through the colonial archive CSTPV Seminar Series with Alice Finden

“This talk explores the possibilities presented by the colonial archive for critically approaching the study of terrorism. Broadly it argues that engaging with the colonial archive help us to understand how the meaning of ‘the terrorist' is deeply embedded with securing European thought. As an instrument of the state the colonial archive reifies racialised terrorist figures as violent and binds them to liberal institutions. A reading along the archival grain exposes how the anxieties of the colonial power over sovereignty and empire are intimately connected to the production of the terrorist.
As researchers we must remain reflective of our intentions when accessing the colonial archive. We cannot disconnect our own search for meaning from European thought and the pursuit of certainty. Even when drawing upon decolonial and feminist methods that refuse colonial narratives and offer alternatives, the reification of patterns of colonial knowledge (through fixing sites of meaning) is all too easily embraced. Drawing upon recent conversations on abolitionism within Critical Studies on Terrorism, this talk therefore discusses the possibility of abolition as an unsettled approach to research on terrorism.”

Dr Alice Finden is an Assistant Professor of International Politics at Durham University. Her research explores the coloniality of counterterrorism and forms of everyday violence. Her monograph, Counterterrorism and Colonialism: Everyday violence in Britain and Egypt was published in 2025 with Routledge. She also explores the decolonial possibilities of archival texts through research and educational engagements with communities and students.  She was a co-convenor for the British International Studies Association Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group and has recently been appointed as BISA trustee.