Identity and Terrorism in the United States: An overview about the interrelation between the underlying religious representations in American identity and the concept of terrorism, from the early 20th century to the last decades of Cold War

Abstract

This study aims to do a historical review of the interrelation between the religious substrate of American identity and the concept of terrorism constructed within such identity context. For achieving this objective, the analysis is divided into four sections. The first is concerned with presenting the general guidelines for tackling the link between identity and terrorism. The next section is dedicated to present the period when terrorism begins to acquire a distinctive entity as manifestation of political violence in America of the early twentieth century. The third title settles between the mid- to late Cold War years, when the phenomenon of terrorism went through a new process of signification. Finally and in addition to the previous section, the last part retakes the terrorism from the ‘70s, but the analysis focus in the domestic scene in US.