ABSTRACT

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.

chapter |22 pages

Introduction

The fascist allure

part I|76 pages

Love and patria

chapter 1|22 pages

Love politics

The nation form and the affective life of the state

chapter 2|21 pages

The glamour of Ivanka

White supremacy and the question of women's equality in the Trump administration

part II|54 pages

The cultural policing of borders

chapter 4|17 pages

“Your racist ass did too much”

Hypermasculinity, Donald Trump, and rap music

chapter 5|17 pages

Commonplace terror

Everyday harassment of Latinx immigrants in Central Florida

chapter 6|18 pages

Snakes on the baseball field

Unmasking political images of Latinx criminality

part III|78 pages

Re/visions

chapter 7|19 pages

Engendering white nationalism

chapter 8|20 pages

Craft activism, violence, and memory-making

Jewish Hearts for Pittsburgh

chapter 9|19 pages

Reframing the US-Mexico border crisis

Prosecutorial and parental rhetoric in the Kamala Harris presidential campaign

chapter 10|18 pages

This is how we win

On unruly hope, autocracy, and transgender children