Orientalism and Knowledge Production of Terrorism in the Post-9/11 United States: the Case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the Boston Marathon Bombing

Abstract

The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing resulted in the arrest of 19-year-old Dzhokhar (“Jahar”) Tsarnaev, a Muslim immigrant from Chechnya. Two years later, he was convicted in federal court and sentenced to death. Even before his arrest, he was publicly declared a radicalized “jihadist.” This image persists despite a multitude of evidence on the court record, which not only suggests that his older brother Tamerlan involved Jahar under duress, but that Tamerlan had accomplices who escaped accountability. My research examines how gendered Orientalist stereotypes, combined with Islamophobic assumptions, produced knowledge about the bombing. These derogatory beliefs were created and perpetuated by law enforcement, the press, and federal prosecutors, which established a “regime of truth” about Jahar and his role in the crimes.