Hate beyond the incident: Exploring the presence/absence dynamics of ‘hate relationships’ through geotrauma and haunting

Abstract

This paper contributes to discussions on the geographies and temporalities of social harm through experiences of ‘hate relationships’. Hate relationships involve repeated domestically concentrated hate-motivated targeting of Othered individuals and families with impacts akin to domestic abuse. We show these experiences not only involve immediate, embodied and enduring violence routed through material conditions and social relations, but also incorporate less obvious experiences of violence through longer lasting effects and prospects of harm in a context where hate relationshipss are institutionally misrecognised and minimised. To make sense of these dynamics we propose that, together, the concepts of geotrauma and haunting allow us to better appreciate these space-times. We consider haunting to emphasise how non-linear time is experienced through situations, materialities and emotions where trauma as a deeply affecting social, spatial and psychological condition manifests. To do this we draw upon anonymised and redacted case notes across two years from a North East based advocacy organisation who work with those victimised by multiple and intersecting forms of hate. We organise our reflections by arguing that hate relationships are experienced as (a) a tangible and enduring presence (b) a seemingly absent presence and (c) a presence that looms. This provides a view of hate which includes, but also goes beyond, discrete and explicitly violent incidents with implications for identification and response.