Conclusion: Disordered Violence

Abstract

This chapter returns the reader to the questions posed in earlier chapters, particularly looking at who gets harmed when the label of terrorist is used. It argues that scholars—and policy-makers and journalists, amongst others—have a responsibility to their subject matter and to the individuals they study. Thus, to use ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ as a label may at times be apt, but using the label comes with power and that must be recognised. To use the label relies upon historical gendered, racialised, and heteronormative understandings and structures. Therefore, ‘terrorism’ is never written nor spoken in a neutral way; it always come with some (or a great deal of) harm.