Friday afternoon, about 120 students, faculty and community members packed a small classroom in the Lillis Business Complex to hear Faisal Devji talk about what motivates a suicide bomber.
Devji, an assistant professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City and author of “Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity,” focused his lecture on the idea that suicide bombers are, in many ways, indistinguishable from the people whom they target.
Throughout the lecture, Devji spoke so quietly that it was difficult to hear him from the back, but most of the audience seemed interested enough to make the extra effort.
He argued that suicide bombers don’t meet in dark cellars or abandoned warehouses, but rather in very open public places. They get together at the gym, or for a paintball outing, or maybe they go whitewater rafting together. The purpose of these trips, said Devji, is probably very similar to the team-building excursions a group of business executives might take together.
He also compared groups like al-Qaida to franchised brand names. If the suicide bombers have any significant contact with them, it is usually only to get some training or perhaps a seal of approval. The larger terrorist organizations are really more like service providers in this way. They’re generally not providing any ideological foundation for the acts to be carried out.
After lecturing for about an hour in 211 Lillis, Devji took audience questions for an additional 40 minutes.
In response to one audience member’s question about the possible alienation of suicide bombers, Devji said, “When they do take an alternative lifestyle, it is global, not from Pakistan. If they’re alienated, it’s through integration. You’d look at any alienation the same way as the alienation of any other young person.”
Another audience member made the observation that much of Devji’s lecture was based on British government documents, and asked how skeptical we should be of these reports. He replied that he takes nothing at face value, whether it be government documents or radical tracts, but instead looks for themes throughout the material that he examines.
After the lecture, freshman Katherine Philipson said that she appreciated the opportunity to challenge her stereotypes about terrorists. “I came to try to understand where suicide bombers are coming from,” she said. “I like to think that people act rationally, and I wonder if I might do the same in their position.”
Freshman Dan Friedman was more interested in the separation between the attackers and the groups that are typically associated with their actions.
“The media shows footage of the attack, then video from a group leader,” he said. “You get the impression that the group planned it from beginning to end, and that may not be the case.”