Reconceptualizing Violence and Terror: Racial Capitalism, Coloniality, and the Rise of the Far Right

• In Event: Colonial Discourses, Racial Capitalism, and Decolonial Possibilities

Abstract

In this paper we seek to expand our understanding of violence in the context of the rise of neofascism and other forms of far-right politics in the United States. Using critical discourse analysis and linguistic anthropology, we examine one shooter’s manifesto within the context of the dissemination of conspiracy theories and the rise of far-rise politics in the United States and around the world. Our analysis provides evidence for the continuing production and naturalization of discourses of violence and terror, as well as the increasing disenchantment of neoliberal politics and economics, the colonial legacies of race, and the appropriation and realignment of ecological concerns and discourses within far-right ideologies.

Authors

• Manuel Ostos, Pennsylvania State University

• Kathleen M. Collins, Pennsylvania State University