The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice
A contribution to the ongoing debate on how anti-Americanism can be adequately conceptualized and how such prejudice can be distinguished from legitimate criticism, arguing that part of these conceptual problems arise from a too narrow focus on defining anti-Americanism and the use of standardized e...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Bielefeld
2013-06-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Conflict and Violence |
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| Online Access: | http://ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/258/pdf_74 |
| _version_ | 1819236436242595840 |
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| author | Felix Knappertsbusch |
| author_facet | Felix Knappertsbusch |
| author_sort | Felix Knappertsbusch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A contribution to the ongoing debate on how anti-Americanism can be adequately conceptualized and how such prejudice can be distinguished from legitimate criticism, arguing that part of these conceptual problems arise from a too narrow focus on defining anti-Americanism and the use of standardized empirical operationalizations. Such approaches exhibit severe limitations in grasping the flexibility of the phenomenon in everyday discourse and often underestimate or ignore the interpretive aspect involved in identifying utterances as anti-American prejudice. Alternatively, a performative approach is proposed, understanding anti-Americanism as a network of speech acts bound by family resemblance rather than identical features. In combination with qualitative empirical research methods such a conceptualization is especially suited to account for the flexible, situated use of anti-American utterances. At the same time it grants reflexivity to the research concept, in the sense of a close description of the scientific application of the notion of anti-Americanism. Two empirical examples from an interview study on anti-American speech in Germany illustrate the potential of such an approach, providing an insight into how anti-Americanism is incorporated into the construction and expression of racist and revisionist national identifications in everyday discourse. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:04:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c25a6ac662854b08bf056a206361a10c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1864-1385 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:04:24Z |
| publishDate | 2013-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Bielefeld |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Conflict and Violence |
| spelling | doaj.art-c25a6ac662854b08bf056a206361a10c2022-12-21T17:45:56ZengUniversity of BielefeldInternational Journal of Conflict and Violence1864-13852013-06-017191107The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American PrejudiceFelix KnappertsbuschA contribution to the ongoing debate on how anti-Americanism can be adequately conceptualized and how such prejudice can be distinguished from legitimate criticism, arguing that part of these conceptual problems arise from a too narrow focus on defining anti-Americanism and the use of standardized empirical operationalizations. Such approaches exhibit severe limitations in grasping the flexibility of the phenomenon in everyday discourse and often underestimate or ignore the interpretive aspect involved in identifying utterances as anti-American prejudice. Alternatively, a performative approach is proposed, understanding anti-Americanism as a network of speech acts bound by family resemblance rather than identical features. In combination with qualitative empirical research methods such a conceptualization is especially suited to account for the flexible, situated use of anti-American utterances. At the same time it grants reflexivity to the research concept, in the sense of a close description of the scientific application of the notion of anti-Americanism. Two empirical examples from an interview study on anti-American speech in Germany illustrate the potential of such an approach, providing an insight into how anti-Americanism is incorporated into the construction and expression of racist and revisionist national identifications in everyday discourse.http://ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/258/pdf_74Anti-Americanismprejudicequalitative researchnational identityspeech actsfamily resemblance |
| spellingShingle | Felix Knappertsbusch The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice International Journal of Conflict and Violence Anti-Americanism prejudice qualitative research national identity speech acts family resemblance |
| title | The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice |
| title_full | The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice |
| title_fullStr | The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice |
| title_short | The Meaning of Anti-Americanism: A Performative Approach to Anti-American Prejudice |
| title_sort | meaning of anti americanism a performative approach to anti american prejudice |
| topic | Anti-Americanism prejudice qualitative research national identity speech acts family resemblance |
| url | http://ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/258/pdf_74 |
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