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Book: Fabricating Authenticity

Chapter: Symbols and Ownership

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.40269

Blurb:

Building on Sheedy’s argument, Flodin-Ali outlines how media responses to acts of violence, strategically employ rhetoric of the “individual” to downplay and isolate white men as mentally ill lone-wolves disconnected from the larger group, while people of color are often represented as collective entities that threaten white America. Flodin-Ali demonstrates that from the standpoint of those with power, the creation of more equitable playing fields can feel like a loss of power and argues that the use of victimization narratives works to authorize the group’s socio-political agenda.

Chapter Contributors

  • Yasmine Flodin-Ali ([email protected] - yflodin) 'University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill'