The medicalisation of threats, immigration as contagion, and White supremacy in an age of terror

ABSTRACT

The 6 January 2021 events must be analysed within a broader context than the phenomenon of Trumpism. The attempted coup that brought together (former) members of the military, White supremacist organisations, and regular citizens has a rich genealogy. We trace this genealogy to the events of 11 September 2001 and the homeland security state built in their wake, even as its reach extends further into U.S. history. Post-9/11 discourse became a mechanism for seeking and interpreting perceived threats to the United States and its citizens. Through it, immigration, disease, and White supremacy became intertwined. Perceptions of infectious and biological threats became racialised. With the emergence of the novel coronavirus, President Trump enacted travel bans and routinely referred to the virus as the “Wuhan virus” or “Chinese virus.” Hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans followed, as this language reinvigorated Orientalist histories. We examine rhetoric about disease over the past twenty years, particularly as it has reinforced militarism and White supremacy, all against the backdrop of 9/11. State constructions of 9/11 and 9/11 memory inform and explain our recent and contemporary terrain.

KEYWORDS:

• 9/11
• immigration
• disease
• contagion
• White supremacy

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo

Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo is professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and graduate director of American Studies and Culture in the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race at Washington State University. Her teaching and research spans narratives of disease and contagion, race and racism in U.S. popular culture and film, theories of embodiment, and 9/11 cultural and rhetorical production. She is the author or co-author of seven published books and 40 journal articles and book chapters, and she has presented her scholarly work at 70 national and international venues. Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo is professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and Director of the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race at Washington State University. Her most recent books with Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo include Feminism After 9/11: Women’s Bodies as Cultural and Political Threat (2017), and Projecting 9/11: Race, Gender, and Citizenship in Recent Hollywood Films (2015). Her additional books, book chapters, and articles focus on cultural productions of 9/11 and constructions of race, gender, immigration, and citizenship.