Imperial branding shifted from white masculinity to multiracial feminist inclusion to deflect racism charges

Evidence

In the following decades, feminism, gay rights, and multiculturalism were absorbed into the US’ representation of itself as a liberal empire. As I have argued elsewhere, the brand shift from the Cold War to the war on terror involved a move away from the focus on white middle class masculinity as the face of imperial power to a multiracial, feminist neoliberal logic and form of representation. Multicultural imperialism and a politics of inclusion effectively shields empire from charges of racism. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 406

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Razack’s imperial feminism and Rana’s analysis of how liberal inclusion legitimizes racialized war. — connects to: Liberal rhetoric can mask imperial racism as benevolence; Inclusion politics masks empire from charges of racism; Liberal hegemonic soft power rhetoric masked imperial ethnocentric racism. (+6 more)
• ADDENDUM: Connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ piece theme of rhetoric serving identity/political signaling.

Broader Connections

• Liberal rhetoric can mask imperial racism as benevolence #expands (0.95)
• Inclusion politics masks empire from charges of racism #corroborates (0.93)
• Liberal hegemonic soft power rhetoric masked imperial ethnocentric racism. #corroborates (0.90)
• Human rights rhetoric masks imperial assumptions that racialize colonized peoples #expands (0.88)
• Feminist rhetoric can function as a tool of imperial and nationalist agendas #expands (0.86)
• Liberal multicultural representation can mask ongoing racially exclusionary imperial policy #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 544
• LGBTQ inclusion served imperial racial othering of Muslims #expands (0.80)