This article explores public policy alternatives to the current war on terrorism. Western society's vulnerability to terrorism has been dealt with primarily by expanding the law enforcement and surveillance authority of governments at the expense of the freedoms and civil liberties of the public. This approach threatens to undermine the…

Personal crises have been associated with spiritual growth. Sparked by the global response to the crisis of September 11, 2001, this study examined the relationship of spirituality and the September 11 tragedy using a sample of convenience from a college student population. This preliminary study used an experimental design to examine various…

In this paper, the author discusses pedagogy and strategy within the current climate set by the "War on Terror". Deploying Lacanian psychoanalysis in a critique of standardized knowledge, the author develops a theory of "abject pedagogy" that seeks to subvert the current "regimes of truth" while providing educators with a viable pedagogy during…

Because of the pressure to increase test scores in reading and mathematics, content areas such as social studies are being eliminated from many elementary schools' curricula. It is critical that teachers find ways to integrate social studies into reading and mathematics. Social studies and mathematics may not immediately come to mind when…

Adolescents possess numerous strengths and vulnerabilities based on their unique stage of development. When youth experience a disaster, whether natural or human-caused, there are certain considerations to be taken into account when providing them with support. This article describes common adolescent reactions to the impact phase of disasters as…

There is increased interest by parents in communicating with their children about political violence. However, limited attention in the scholarly literature has focused on parent-child communication about war and terrorism. In response, the purpose of this study is to assess, within their respective ecological contexts, American and Northern Irish…

Research in Israel has shown a high level of non-democratic, and even anti-democratic, attitudes among Israeli high-school students. Similar findings in the adult population indicate that this is not a "childhood disorder" that evaporates with age, but something which could pose a threat to Israel's young and fragile democracy. The…

This study examined the impact of terrorism on adolescents, who may be resolving developmental issues regarding their vulnerability to death. Approximately 4 months after the September 11th attacks, a survey was given to 973 Upper Midwest adolescents and teachers. Quantitative analyses indicated that adolescents (especially girls) were frightened…

We evaluate the argument that Islamist terrorist attacks represent a distinctive "4th wave" of transnational terrorism that has supplanted Leftist terrorism. Drawing on ITERATE data for 1968-2003, the annual count of Leftist attacks has declined since the end of the Cold War while Islamist attacks have persisted and spiked upward in 2002-03.…

Despite the increasingly dangerous world where trauma and loss are common, relatively few studies have explored traumatic grief in children. The 1998 American Embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, provided an unfortunate opportunity to examine this topic. This report describes findings in 156 children who knew someone killed in the incident, assessed…

The authors believe that children need to feel safe--they need the illusion of safety--so that they can develop in a healthy way. But it is an "illusion" because in reality safety is never guaranteed for anyone. At times, traumatic events disrupt the safe environments that people have created. Janoff-Buhlman (1992) describes the "shattering of…

The University of Colorado's Ward Churchill is but the latest in a long line of professors whose volatile statements have created controversy for themselves and their universities. Specific personnel matters in the case have been meticulously addressed in Boulder, but several larger questions have been curiously neglected. One might well ask, for…

This article deals with texts that effectively raise issues related to 9/11 for secondary students, as discussed by several teachers. Kevin J. Collins from St. Thomas Aquinas High School says, "Elephant," Gus Van Sant's exploration of a Columbine-like tragedy, underscores the current generation's attempt to define the meaning of events in…

This essay reflects on the ways in which the events of 9-11 offered those in the humanities an opportunity to demonstrate the many and varied gifts the disciplines have to offer a postmodern world that, for all its technological wonder, is still, ultimately, utterly dependent on food for the soul--the sort of nourishment that the liberal arts…

Timothy Draper's approach to teaching history is that the discipline essentially embodies the best of other humanities and social science disciplines. The processes of remembering, retelling, and reconstructing involve the higher domains of learning. Freed from the bonds of mere memorization of dates, the college history student analyzes,…