Bringing Critical Muslim Studies into Critical Studies on Terrorism: Theory, Praxis and the Future of the Discipline Abstract:Critical Terrorism Studies has witnessed a growing engagement with decolonial and postcolonial perspectives over the past years that have challenged the continued Eurocentrism of the discipline and its dominant approaches. Despite these advances, the field continues to grapple with enduring forms of Eurocentrism in its conceptual frameworks, research agendas, and scholarly conversations. It is therefore time for CTS to consider a more radical re-orientation of the direction it has been taking since its foundation. Critical Muslim Studies has developed a rich body of scholarship that interrogates the racialisation of Muslim identities, the colonial and imperial structures shaping contemporary governance, and the epistemic conditions through which “Muslimness” is produced as a problem within global politics. Orientalist narratives of the Global War on Terror produce the ‘terrorist’ as an ahistorical and violent stranger-figure bound to an ethnically and religiously homogenous community without political will or desire while justifying death and destruction in Muslim majority countries. Muslim and Arab futurism however, in acts of refusal, speculation and reimagination seek to open spaces for world-making of more just and desecuritised futures for communities that continue to live through catastrophe and crisis. In so doing, these approaches re-examine what it means to be a political subject for those subject to ongoing exclusion, dehumanisation and delegitimisation.Bio:Dr Rizwaan Sabir is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and International Relations within the School of Justice Studies at Liverpool John Moores University, a role he has held since 2015. He also serves as the Programme Leader for the Criminology and International Relations degree programme, which launched in 2025.Learn more about Dr Sabir's work.Accessibility guideAccessibility guide for 50 George Square Sep 08 2026 16.00 - 18.00 Bringing Critical Muslim Studies into Critical Studies on Terrorism: Theory, Praxis and the Future of the Discipline Join us for a keynote lecture by Dr Rizwaan Sabir (Liverpool John Moores University). G.06, 50 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JU Register This article was published on Friday 28 August 2026
Bringing Critical Muslim Studies into Critical Studies on Terrorism: Theory, Praxis and the Future of the Discipline Abstract:Critical Terrorism Studies has witnessed a growing engagement with decolonial and postcolonial perspectives over the past years that have challenged the continued Eurocentrism of the discipline and its dominant approaches. Despite these advances, the field continues to grapple with enduring forms of Eurocentrism in its conceptual frameworks, research agendas, and scholarly conversations. It is therefore time for CTS to consider a more radical re-orientation of the direction it has been taking since its foundation. Critical Muslim Studies has developed a rich body of scholarship that interrogates the racialisation of Muslim identities, the colonial and imperial structures shaping contemporary governance, and the epistemic conditions through which “Muslimness” is produced as a problem within global politics. Orientalist narratives of the Global War on Terror produce the ‘terrorist’ as an ahistorical and violent stranger-figure bound to an ethnically and religiously homogenous community without political will or desire while justifying death and destruction in Muslim majority countries. Muslim and Arab futurism however, in acts of refusal, speculation and reimagination seek to open spaces for world-making of more just and desecuritised futures for communities that continue to live through catastrophe and crisis. In so doing, these approaches re-examine what it means to be a political subject for those subject to ongoing exclusion, dehumanisation and delegitimisation.Bio:Dr Rizwaan Sabir is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and International Relations within the School of Justice Studies at Liverpool John Moores University, a role he has held since 2015. He also serves as the Programme Leader for the Criminology and International Relations degree programme, which launched in 2025.Learn more about Dr Sabir's work.Accessibility guideAccessibility guide for 50 George Square Sep 08 2026 16.00 - 18.00 Bringing Critical Muslim Studies into Critical Studies on Terrorism: Theory, Praxis and the Future of the Discipline Join us for a keynote lecture by Dr Rizwaan Sabir (Liverpool John Moores University). G.06, 50 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JU Register This article was published on Friday 28 August 2026
Sep 08 2026 16.00 - 18.00 Bringing Critical Muslim Studies into Critical Studies on Terrorism: Theory, Praxis and the Future of the Discipline Join us for a keynote lecture by Dr Rizwaan Sabir (Liverpool John Moores University).
