Teaching (Something About) Terrorism: Ethical and Methodological Problems, Pedagogical Suggestions HELEN D EXTER University of Leicester AND E MMANUEL -P IERRE G UITTET The University of Manchester This article is an attempt to assess what a stimulating and serious course on terrorism should and should not be. The article is divided into three sections. The first examines the profusion of academic literature on ter- rorism, particularly with regard to providing students with the tools to separate the wheat from the chaff. At the heart of this section is a call to return to the literature on political violence and collective action in order to more effectively ascertain the intellectual, social, environmental, and cognitive mechanisms that lead people to rebel and act violently. The second section explores how nonacademic literature or nontradi- tional teaching materials can usefully supplement the literature men- tioned above and, particularly, in preparing students to engage with primary sources. The final section outlines how and why role-playing can be used. The authors conclude that teaching terrorism should be a mat- ter of cross-disciplinary fertilization in order to reduce the uncertainty created by the word terrorism, which overshadows current practice and precludes proper attention being paid to the social, political, and psychological mechanisms of political violence. Keywords: teaching, methodology, terrorism, political violence, novels, films, role-playing Teaching Violence At (Reasonable) Distance In the last decade, in every Western country, courses on “terrorism” have spread like mushrooms after the rain. Teaching terrorism is challenging for both meth- odological and ethical reasons, raising issues of objectivity and definition, of access to primary sources (and primary actors), as well as problems of fear, emo- tion, and everyday assumptions about violence fed in large part by popular cul- ture (Chesnais 1981; Feldman 1991; Douglass and Zulaika 1996). Students and researchers alike are faced with an unprecedented number of publications avail- able on the market (Silke 2001, 2008; Ross 2004; Ranstorp 2007; Jackson, Breen Smyth, and Gunning 2009; Jarvis 2009; Zulaika 2009; Gordon 2010; Young and Findley 2011). However, the growing demand for and popularity of such courses means that these demanding issues cannot be ignored by teachers of politics (Newman 2008). Every student who wants to get acquainted with the subject area or acquire more advanced and critical knowledge also faces these challenges. Dexter, Helen and Emmanuel-Pierre Guittet. (2012) Teaching (Something About) Terrorism: Ethical and Methodological Problems, Pedagogical Suggestions. International Studies Perspectives, doi: 10.1111/j.1528- 3585.2012.00507.x Ó 2012 International Studies Association International Studies Perspectives (2012), 1–20.