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Those Who Must Die: Syrian Refugees in the Age of National Security

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to deconstruct the language used in President Trump’s Facebook posts while on the campaign trail, and the subsequent comments which reiterate and reify this rhetoric, to understand how Syrian refugees are labeled as a dangerous population unworthy of asylum. By utilizing the theoretical groundwork of Foucault (1980), Agamben (2005), and Mbembe (Public Culture 15: 11–40, 2003), this qualitative content analysis will explore how Syrian refugees, as depicted by Facebook comments, represent a “disposable population.” We conclude that by reducing Syrian refugees to a sub-human status and representing them as the dangerous and unworthy other, both President Trump who initiated this rhetoric, and those who responded in a way which legitimized his views, effectively labeled Syrian refugees as a dangerous population unworthy of asylum within the USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, 4401 Hampton Blvd, 6015 Batten Arts & Letters, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Sarah Pedigo Kulzer

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, 4401 Hampton Blvd, 6031 Batten Arts & Letters, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Ryan Phillips

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  1. Sarah Pedigo Kulzer
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  2. Ryan Phillips
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Correspondence to Sarah Pedigo Kulzer.

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Kulzer, S.P., Phillips, R. Those Who Must Die: Syrian Refugees in the Age of National Security. Hum Rights Rev 21, 139–157 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-020-00582-1

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