Deracialization, Dissent, and Terrorism in the FBI’s Most Wanted Program

Abstract

In the war on terror, the state frames terrorism as an exceptional form of violence. This research examines the role of race in that framing. Analysis of the 2017 Federal Bureau of Investigation most wanted program shows that the bureau deploys race to represent the terrorist as exceptional by (1) formally deracializing terrorists, who are far less likely than nonterrorists to even have race labels on their wanted posters, and (2) labeling antiracist, anticolonial, and anticapitalist politics as terrorism. I argue that such representations proceed in step with the material governance of terrorism that is characterized by disappearance. The representation of the terrorist as exceptional helps render the state’s antiterror apparatus as neutral and legitimate, and it continually renews the legitimacy of the colonial, capitalist state through the newer register of terrorism.