1st Edition
Race, Gender, and Political Culture in the Trump Era The Fascist Allure
This book demonstrates the fragility of democratic norms and institutions, and the allure of fascist politics within the Trump era.
The chapters consider the antagonistic cultural practices through which divergent political machinations, including white (patriarchal) nationalism, are staged, and examine the corresponding policies and governing practices that threaten the civil rights, security, and wellbeing of racialized minorities, immigrants, women, and gender nonconforming people. The book contributes to social theory on nation-building by delineating processes of exclusion, intimidation, and violence, with a focus on rhetoric, performance, semiotics, music, affectivity, and the power of media. Various chapters also analyze creative, restorative, and at times unruly practices of community building, which reknit the social fabric with expansive visions of the polity.
This anthropology-led volume incorporates contributions from a number of disciplines including sociology, American studies, communication, and Spanish, and will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences and humanities.
Introduction: The Fascist Allure
Christine A. Kray and Uli Linke
Part I: Love and Patria
- Love Politics: The Nation Form and the Affective Life of the State
Uli Linke - The Glamour of Ivanka: White Supremacy and the Question of Women’s Equality in the Trump Administration
Aidan Smith - The Sticky Imagery of White Feminism
Christine A. Kray - "Your Racist Ass Did Too Much": Hypermasculinity, Donald Trump, and Rap Music
Matthew Oware - Commonplace Terror: The Everyday Harassment of Latinx Immigrants in Central Florida
Mary Vickers and Nolan Kline - Snakes on the Baseball Field: Unmasking Political Images of Latinx Criminality
Corinne Kentor - Engendering White Nationalism
Jeff Maskovsky - Craft Activism, Violence, and Memory-Making: Jewish Hearts for Pittsburgh
Hinda Mandell - Reframing the US-Mexico Border Crisis: Prosecutorial and Parental Rhetoric in the Kamala Harris Presidential Campaign
Joshua D. Martin - This Is How We Win: On Unruly Hope, Autocracy, and Transgender Children
Sally Campbell Galman
Part II: The Cultural Policing of Borders
Part III: Re/Visions: Crafting Social Justice
Biography
Christine A. Kray is Professor of Anthropology at Rochester Institute of Technology, USA.
Uli Linke is Professor of Anthropology at Rochester Institute of Technology, USA.
"The Trump years have been examined from almost every possible angle, usually focusing on and criticizing the man and his policies of the moment. This book combines ethnographic research (for instance, of Latinx, Jewish, and transgender communities) with historical context to illustrate how Trump is a product of an older and deeper political culture in the United States and how that political culture contains other elements that contrast and compete with the Trumpian narrative. Fascism may be a stream of American political culture, pre-dating Trump, but it is not the only stream, which is cause for hope."
Jack David Eller is Associate Professor (Emeritus) of Anthropology at the Community College of Denver, USA.
