The most hated tree in America: negative difference, the White imaginary, and the Bradford pear

Ryan Neville-Shepard, C. Kelly
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Abstract

Against claims that we now live in a post-racial era, this article argues that panic over so-called “invasive species” illustrates how negative conceptions of difference are built into the White imaginary. We argue that the calls to exterminate the infamous Bradford pear tree across the US function as a kind of nanoracism, or what Achilles Mbembe defines as the organization of everyday affairs according to us–them logics that further justify overt racist practices. Performing a close reading of the discourse about the tree, we show how xenophobia and anti-Blackness lurk in a debate about non-human biota, specifically by normalizing inferential racist language that attacks difference, expressing fears of racial impurity, and calling for exterminating the Other.
美国人最讨厌的树:负差树、白树和布拉德福德梨树
反对我们现在生活在后种族时代的说法,这篇文章认为,对所谓的“入侵物种”的恐慌说明了白人对差异的负面概念是如何融入到想象中的。我们认为,要求在全美范围内消灭臭名昭著的布拉德福德梨树的呼声是一种种族主义,或者阿基里斯·姆本贝(Achilles Mbembe)所定义的,是一种根据“我们-他们”逻辑组织日常事务的行为,这种逻辑进一步为公开的种族主义行为辩护。通过仔细阅读关于树的论述,我们展示了仇外心理和反黑人是如何潜伏在关于非人类生物群的辩论中,特别是通过将攻击差异的推理种族主义语言正常化,表达对种族不洁的恐惧,并呼吁消灭他者。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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