Ethnic Deviant Labels within a Terror-Panic Context: Excusing White Deviance

Abstract

This paper considers ethnically loaded deviant labels within a terror-panic context that is specifically embedded in a framework that refers to failed multiculturalism. It complements existing literature on the subject by discussing how the continued construction of negative labels with reference to ‘brown bodies’ limits the life chances and freedoms of this population group. The paper however argues that constructing brown bodies as deviant also allows for any actual deviant labels associated with white bodies within the same context to be excused or at least more readily excused in comparison to their brown bodied counterparts. This is possible because of the normality and central position of whiteness, which places its subjects in a relative position of power and authority. The paper argues that a panic-driven preoccupation with the brown body within the terror-panic context means that white bodies are often passed over for attention, even in instances where problematic behaviour is evident.