Emotions, Community and Violence

Fear of terrorism and a desire to defend communities has given rise to legal responses and new security regulations centred on surveillance. This subject is an in-depth study of the political, legal and the criminological rhetoric and practices around violence targeted at racialised communities. It explores terrorism, state and community responses to four extreme violent events through the lens of emotions they generate. Using criminological and socio-legal theory the subject examines how emotions become a site of political struggle after extreme violence, shaping how we understand harm, criminality, victimhood and justice. Connecting critical theory, criminological inquiry and lived community experience, the subject explores the ways in which liberal democracies live with political violence by policing emotions and how this can produce feelings of democratic belonging and alienation.