Discourses of Danger

Locating Emma Goldman

Bibliographic Data

ID6351977
AuthorsKathy E Ferguson (0000-0002-2513-1707, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume36
Issue5
Pages735-761
Publication date2008-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0090591708321033
OpenAlexW2130585489
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

Government, media, and medical accounts of Emma Goldman converged to create her public presence in the U.S. as a “dangerous individual.” The prevailing discourses constituted Goldman as violent, utilizing her alleged menace to distract attention from far more egregious violence against labor by state and corporate forces. Goldman responded by denying, confronting, and redirecting the alarmed gaze toward greater risks left underarticulated in hegemonic accounts. Goldman's bold confrontations with authorities constituted a kind of anarchist parrhesia, fearless speech, a relentless truth-telling practice that risked her own security in pursuit of her “beautiful ideal.” The labor of remembering America's history of class violence hones our attention to the complex discursive processes by which some historical facts come to count in prevailing narratives, while others fade into obscurity

Criminology · Government (linguistics · Hegemony · Ideal (ethics · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Anarchism and Radical Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political theory and Gramsci · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics

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