Abstract
ABSTRACT In many ways, the 2015 New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne marked a turning point in the German refugee debate. The sexual harassment by mostly North African asylum seekers sparked a paradoxical alliance between the Far-Right and some feminists. This paper sheds light on the origins of this convergence. Did feminists betray their emancipatory ideals? Or did the convergence result from shared ideological values? Drawing on a discourse analysis (N = 111) of two far-right newspapers, a right-wing blog, and a major German feminist magazine, this paper traces the construction of a rhetorical device I call geography of trauma. The device allowed feminists and the Far-Right to justify their shared vision of an exclusive, homogenous German nation by dramatizing, collectivizing, and spatializing individual trauma. Ultimately, this case study highlights the active role that seemingly progressive forces can play in normalizing racist nation-building projects more broadly.
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