"Safe at Home? Leader Rhetoric's Impact on Marginalized Communities"

Overview: The United States has a long, dark history of motivating the country’s foreign involvement in racial terms. There is also a history of associating domestic populations in the United States with foreign adversaries. An increase in bias and violence toward Muslim Americans after 9/11 and toward Asian-Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the racialization of foreign policy. This project is in the exploratory phase and will study how the rhetoric leaders use to mobilize the population to achieve foreign policy priorities can disproportionately harm marginalized groups. The findings will be especially important as the U.S. relationship with China becomes more challenging.