When it began to rain we only grew louder and rowdier; nothing could dampen our spirits. Students partied along side police officers for the first time. When I asked an officer why he was not stopping this mob-like scene, he instantly responded with, "how can I stop you from celebrating the life of one of our own," referring to the police officer whom the Tsarnaev's shot and killed earlier that day. For one night we were one, united by the defeat of a common enemy.
This description of the build up to, and the spontaneous celebration that ensued after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture, was the cathartic culmination of an angst- and grief-ridden ten days that played out following the first major terror event on U.S. soil since the beginning of America's proclaimed "war on terror" in the wake of 9/11. I use this narrative anecdote to introduce this ethnographic study because it highlights the unifying and cathartic power that the ideology of our "war on terror" has upon Americans, as illuminated within the microcosm of Boston College. First, the astonishing display of American pride was an almost universal response to the capture of the remaining "Marathon Monday" bomber. No one told students to wrap themselves in America flags or dress in our national colors. It just happened spontaneously. To resist this impulse would have seemed un-American, or worse, pro-terrorist. Secondly, the communal purgation of emotional distress underpinning this rousing patriotic spectacle seemed like an obligatory and redemptive rite to celebrate the defeat of terrorism. Thus, the narrative account of the notorious April 19th party in the mods illustrates two key behaviors in response to terrorism: 1) the instinctive unification of students as Americans in opposition to the Islamic terrorist, and 2) the shared cathartic release resulting from the death or capture of the terrorist.
