Fear of terrorism: Recognizing scenarios of potential danger in urban space

Abstract

This article is about the fear of terrorism. The few and mainly quantitative studies on the topic have categorized people as afraid or not afraid, treating fear as a known constant detached from time and space. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Copenhagen, Denmark, this article argues instead that the fear of terrorism is momentary and transient; it flares up as flashes of fear. These flashes are triggered by the sensory experience of the urban environment combined with recollections of mediatized horror stories about previous terrorist attacks. This article shows how affects related to historical events, such as terrorist attacks, do not exclusively linger in the exact places or cities where they unfolded. Rather, affects can also, via media, travel to and flash up in scenarios that are geographically distant yet aesthetically resonant with historical events. This article thus provides an understanding of the temporal and emplaced dimensions of fear, and conceptualizes the relationship between the affects we experience, the surroundings we live in, and the stories we are exposed to via media.