Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What's Medieval Got To Do With It?, Carolyn Dinshaw

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

President Bush's response to September 11 — he has called this "war on terrorism" a "crusade" — is terrifying in its own right, framing the future as a reprise of the medieval past: several centuries of battle between Christianity and Islam. It's "going to take a while," Bush said. The White House may have subsequently backed off that rhetoric, but the metaphor (if it is one) draws on entrenched habits of thought.