العمدة في اللسانيات وتحليل الخطاب
Volume 10, Numéro 1, Pages 108-131
2026-01-25

From Barbary Pirates To Proto-terrorists The Post-911 Reframing Of Corsairing In American Historical Memory



Authors : Mohamed El-amine Kahloula . Linda Belabdelouahab -fernini .

Abstract

This article examines the post-9/11 American reinterpretation of Barbary corsairs as proto-terrorists and argues that this shift reflects the political demands of the War on Terror rather than historical continuity. While nineteenth-century U.S. encounters with the North African regencies were shaped by commercial disputes, diplomatic negotiations, and evolving conceptions of maritime sovereignty, post-2001 political and popular discourse selectively retrojects the category of “terrorism” onto these early encounters. This reframing obscures the legal and structural similarities between Barbary corsairing which is in reality a systematic, state-sanctioned maritime strategy and European privateering, while amplifying cultural and religious differences to construct a timeless “Muslim threat.” This study attempts to demonstrate how encounters with Barbary have been instrumentalized to legitimize and justify the past two decades military interventions and immigration restrictions. The article concludes by exploring the consequences of this historical distortion for both scholarly understanding and public policy.

Keywords

Barbary corsairing; ; War on Terror ; Proto-terrorism ; Post-9/11 ; American reinterpretation ; Political and popular discourse

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