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Assignment #13

In Ahmed’s piece, she argues that people’s emotions are not innate nor personal. Instead they are shaped by the myths perpetuated in one’s environment. The author uses psychoanalysis to show how white fears of “the other” are often rooted in unconscious beliefs shaped by deeper histories. Through the use of fear white people mobilize feelings of hatred of the perceived other. This hatred is justified through ideas of the white subject’s rights and the nation’s ground they view as under threat of the other. The nation is imagined as white which is believed to be synonymous with purity. The “others” are perceived as violating this purity and their entry is framed as overwhelming the white population viewed as the rightful owners of the land. The nation is also viewed as a white female in that the entry of immigrants is seen as a violation akin to rape. Ahmed argues that these feelings work to stick together identities such as that of an asylum seeker and the terrorist boogeyman. By conflating these two identities the nation is perceived as “securing itself” by not allowing asylum seekers. Since these people are viewed as dangerous the few that are allowed entry to make the nation be seen as charitable or righteous. White people are viewed the same way that the home owner that murdered the 16-year-old burglar is seen. Protecting property is shown to be more important than human life. Even though the boy was murdered the real victim is the home owner whose property was thought to be under threat. The grounds or nation is viewed as under threat by the other and white people who perceive themselves to be the “home owners” see themselves as having the right to secure it at any cost. The author also shows the way language in speeches reveals this fear in the use of words like “swamped.” These words carry connotations of asylum seekers as dirty and as intruders which mobilize national attitudes to be anti-immigration and refugee aid.