It seems today that the events of 9/11 are being primarily memorialized as acts of terrorism. However, for those of us who live in the U.S. and have roots in South Asia, our grief, our anger, and our fear, as well as our intellectual reactions to 9/11 are complicated by the history of conflict in our communities and countries of origin, as well as our own status and experiences as ethnic and religious minorities in this society. This event is an attempt to grapple with these multi-layered responses to the experiences of war and terrorism. In particular, we are interested in submissions that unpack South Asian responses to war and terrorism against the background of our shared history of colonialism, the struggle for Independence, the insurgencies and the internal strife; as well as the ongoing regimes of security unleashed by the US Dept. of Homeland Security such as special registration and the PATRIOT Act, as well as those in South Asia, such as the (now-repealed) POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act).

We welcome your meditations on how the various labels that have been thrust upon South Asians  - informers, mutineers, terrorists, insurgents, resident aliens, illegal immigrants, ad infinitum - shape our responses to contemporary discussions about war and terrorism. We also seek to understand the role that such labels play when used by the state, the media, and dominant opinions to selectively frame whole communities as threats to national security, to a nation, or to any other ethnic or religious community.