Hisham Aidi and Arun Kundnai on the Cultural War on Terror

The “war on terror” has been as much a war over culture and identity as it has been a military project. In Europe and the United States, government agencies have developed various strategies aiming to shape the cultural lives of young Muslims and promote opposition to extremism, drawing in part on similar initiatives pursued during the Cold War.

But cultural forms, such as hip-hop, have also provided spaces for creative critiques of racism, Islamophobia, and empire. In a recent discussion, Hisham Aidi and Arun Kundnani analyzed the contours of the cultural war on terror and its potential pitfalls.

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