Queer Intimacies: Rethinking Epistemology of Conducting Research with Jihadist Group Members

This dissertation is an article compilation thesis that explores the possibility of producing humanistic social science in general, using the case of conducting research on jihadist group members within the ‘War on Terror’ context. Empirically, the study employs first-hand interviews of jihadist group members in France. It finds that employing queer theory, crip theory, and affect theory to analyze both participants’ lived reality and the way one ought to produce knowledge provides novel insights. Challenging reductionist narratives that frame jihadist group members as deviant or monstrous, it argues for nuanced interpretations that account for their complex lived experiences. The dissertation proposes to focus on intimacy—romantic relationships, friendships, and familial bonds—as the locus of projection and assignation of monstrosity as well as a space of agency and autonomy for the subjects of study. The theoretical framework presented therein advocates for de-exceptionalizing these actors and introduces critical (re)contextualization as a tool for ethical scholarship. This perspective situates jihadist group members as individuals inscribed in modernity whose aspirations and struggles often mirror broader and banal societal dynamics. Considering the question of how to concretely produce knowledge in this field, the thesis critiques the emotional and affectual regime prevalent in terrorism studies, advocating for data-gathering methods that consider both the researcher’s and subject’s inherent human vulnerability and agency. The dissertation concludes by urging scholars to critically examine how the War on Terror perpetuates colonial and imperial legacies in the way one produces knowledge, advocating for a justice-oriented—and tangible—humanistic sociological practice, one which ought to resist dehumanizing narratives. The dissertation proposes playfulness and metaphor as epistemological interventions, provoking readers to embark on a journey of exploring surprising parallels, revealing the narrow parameters confining pre-existing scholarship. This work ultimately provides a humanistic model for engaging with subjects in politically charged contexts, emphasizing unconditional empathy and care for all as an imperative ethical minimal threshold in sociology and beyond.