The sleeper cell concept casts racialized bodies as hidden disease

Evidence

Unconventional and unpredictable, Bin Laden’s network employs the tactic of ‘sleeper cells,’ where ‘operatives are often established in foreign countries for extended periods of time, up to several years, prior to a given operation being executed. Preceding the activation of the operation, they may live as regular citizens, leading respectable lives, avoiding official attention.’ The concept of the sleeper cell, with its biological associations, is one that is central to the state’s case, invoking as it has historically, the ‘bodily degeneracy’ of the marked group as well as the threat of contamination. A ‘sleeper cell’ provides the possibility of being pathological, yet appearing ‘normal’: disease deceptively hidden in an otherwise respectable body. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 101

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains how the ‘sleeper cell’ concept functions as a biological/contamination metaphor, not just a tactical term.
• XREF: Connects to the shame/disease-ridden body literature, and to how security discourse medicalizes racialized populations.