This chapter highlights the interlaced histories of race-making and warfare in the early twentieth century, exploring how the emboldened demands for racial equality emerging across the globe during the First World War altered the conceptual foundations of white supremacy in the United States. Knitting together the case studies of Mexican rebels in southern Texas and Indian anti-colonialists in San Francisco and New York, it recounts the international origins of a coalescing national security logic used to justify unequal categories of citizenship. Namely, white Americans’ successful denunciation of various quests for increased social rights as inherently foreign not only enforced a racially exclusionary definition of loyalty to the nation and its war effort but also fueled the rise of discriminatory investigative practices at the hands of the modern surveillance state. Indeed, the First World War triggered a dramatic and permanent transformation in the American intelligence apparatus, which increasingly essentialized nonwhite groups as untrustworthy on the basis of their assumed liability to foreign subversion.

In April 2016, in the aftermath of the 2015 terrorist attacks, a more severe criminal prosecution policy was implemented, and terrorism cases involving individuals returning from the Iraqi-Syrian front were systematically transferred to the Special Assize Court. Previously heard at the 16th Chamber of the lower court, the Assize Court now had the authority to impose much longer prison sentences for these cases. These are the ’second generation’ trials. Most of these cases involved ’returnees,’ often without victims or civil parties, and sometimes even without the defendants themselves, who were presumed dead. These cases also included a second type of trial in which terror acts were committed.

The Assize Court has the authority to impose the most severe punishments. However, appearing before the Assize Court entails a prolonged judicial process that is unique to this jurisdiction. This chapter examines the tensions and dynamics that arose following the 2016 change in prosecution policy and the transfer of cases to the Assize Court. Beyond judicial disagreements, unexpected outcomes emerged as the court came to know the accused more closely, revealing a more complex reality.

If emotions constitute a central part of teachers’ professional lives (Hargreaves, 1998), it is plausible to hypothesize that becoming and being a language teacher educator could be a highly emotional process as well. To date, while research on teacher emotions has been highly vibrant and fruitful, scant attention has been paid to teacher educators’ emotions, particularly in the field of second language education (Yuan et al., 2022). As documented by existing literature (e.g., Izadinia, 2014; Yuan & Yang, 2022), teacher educators often face various challenges (e.g., a heavy workload and the research-practice divide) in their daily work, and they may struggle with the emotional and intellectual distance between their current professionalism and the expected performance in teacher education (Intrator & Kunzman, 2009; Nazari et al., 2024). Nevertheless, the emotional state of teacher educators is interconnected with their personal well-being, as well as the motivation and quality of teachers, ultimately influencing classroom instruction and student learning (Day & Leitch, 2001). Scholars (e.g., Hagenauer & Volet, 2014; Johnson & Golombek, 2020) have thus argued that teacher educators need to foster and maintain a sense of control over their emotions to facilitate their teaching of teachers.

The Introduction chapter provides an overview of the book’s content and approach. It explains the philosophical importance of Beauvoir’s varied output, including not only her essays but also her novels and memoirs. It presents the rigorous yet personal reading of Beauvoir’s works that characterises the book, as well as its focus on their relevance for reflecting on current issues. The Introduction also provides an overview of the reception of Beauvoir’s work and the prejudices that have obscured the philosophical importance of her writings, notably sexism and an unwarranted exclusion of her novels and memoirs from her philosophical output.