Global mass violence

Examining Racial and Gendered Violence in the Twilight of Multiculturalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2147406
AuthorsFelice Blake (Department of English, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume40
Issue14
Pages2615-2633
Publication date2017-11-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2016.1237669
OpenAlexW2534263143
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited31

This article examines three instances of mass violence for what they tell us about the inadequacies of post-racial and colourblind discourses in the US and Europe. I apply an intersectional analysis of the manifestoes that Anders Behring Breivik, Elliot Rodger and Dylann Roof leave in the wake of their horrific acts. These manifestoes, in their appropriation of rights discourses and desire for a white racial order, expose the ambivalent commitments to persons of colour evident in the current retreat of many Western states from multiculturalist ideals in favour of post-racial integration. These states now advocate policies of integration over previous emphases on multiculturalism and diversity, a move that reflects the growing popular promotion of national identity and nativist culture. I argue that such incidents of mass violence should be understood in relation to the political, social and cultural contexts that perpetuate and often legitimate xenophobia and gendered racism

Appropriation · Multiculturalism · Political science · Politics · Racism · Sociology · Xenophobia · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Race, History, and American Society