Abstract
When Aafia Siddiqui ‘disappeared’ from her upper-middle class life in Boston in 2003 due to accusations that she was involved in al Qaeda, competing narratives from the US government, media, and her family emerged striving to convince the American public of her guilt or innocence. These narratives were rooted in a gendered form of neo-Orientalism that informed and structured the War on Terror. The narratives, of innocent Soccer Mom, nefarious Lady al Qaeda, and mentally fragile Grey lady, sought to explain how a well-educated woman could possibly be involved with a terrorist organisation. This article uses intertextual analysis to draw parallels between Gothic literature and the Siddiqui narratives. Gothic literature’s dependency upon gendered unease is particularly evident in the Siddiqui narratives, which then reveal the uncertainties within the War on Terror, particularly those related to American exceptionalism.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3-24 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Millennium: Journal of International Studies |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 11 May 2016 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Sept 2016 |
Keywords
- Intertextuality
- Gender
- Terrorism
Access to Document
- Gentry_2016_TheMysteriousCaseofAafiaSiddiqui_AAM
© The Author(s) 2016. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0305829816647120