Performing Disrespect: Semiotic Violence and the U.S. Capitol Insurrection

• In Event: Riot and Resistance: For Good or for Ill

Abstract

On January 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, engaging in physical violence and inflicting substantial property damage in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results, including by harming and intimidating political opponents. The insurrection was widely – and accurately – viewed as an attack on American democracy. Yet media and social media coverage also focused extensively on the hate symbols carried by many of the insurrectionists, expressing racist tropes and slogans, as well the occupation and vandalism of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, involving visible enactments of sexism and misogyny. In this paper, I develop the concept of 'semiotic violence' to characterize these latter actions, which I argue constitute an important, but under-theorized, form of political violence. In the first section, I draw on Buffachi’s (2004) notion of violence as a 'social act,' which can be either bilateral (performer and victim) or trilateral (performer, victim, and witness), to distinguish semiotic violence from – and in relation to – other more commonly recognized forms of political violence. Semiotic violence is trilateral, with the primary aim being to communicate disrespect for the victim – and, by extension, other members of their group - in front of a larger audience. In the second section, I use concepts from literatures in multiple disciplines – including semiotics, hate crimes, and performance – to expand on the idea of semiotic violence as 'performing disrespect.' I argue that semiotic violence is a potent tool in political subordination and marginalization, in that it often seeks to reinforce social and political hierarchies that, while often normalized, are experienced as a form of oppression. In the third section, I apply and illustrate the power of these theoretical tools by three short case studies of instances of semiotic violence during the U.S. Capitol insurrection: the parading of the Confederate flag through the Capitol Rotunda, with racist connotations; the invasion and vandalism of Pelosi's office, with sexist elements; and the hanging of a noose on a platform on the Capitol grounds, with more ambiguous meanings. The paper concludes that attending to semiotic violence indicates an even deeper level of assault on American political institutions, attacking not only democracy – but also the principle of equality itself.

Author

• Mona Lena Krook, Rutgers University, New Brunswick