Violence Where Nothing Happens: Violence as a Normative Condition in the US Midwest

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Abstract

This paper draws on my dissertation proposal in which I propose studying normative violence at US empire's geographical core, the Midwest. Whereas a great deal of sociological work has focused on the violence of social inequalities in Midwestern big cities like Chicago, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, far fewer look at mid-sized cities, small towns, and rural areas. Where social inequality and violence in the rural Midwest have been studied little attention has been paid to the ways in which violence is a normative part of everyday life or the transnational connections inherent in the Midwest’s location in US empire. I take on a capacious definition of violence to consider the myriad ways that people experience harm, though I take a particular interest in the state’s relationship to violence. I conceive of violence in the US Midwest as a normative part of everyday life and seek to explore the narratives surrounding that violence.

Author

• Matthew Heinrichs, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign