Race, risk, and fiction in the War on Terror

Literature Interpretation Theory

This article examines how racial perceptions manifest themselves across a range of post-9/11 fictions. Assistant Professor Georgiana Banita argues that American literature after 9/11 has sought to alleviate the pressure of racial discrimination by replacing a moral discourse based on race with a more ambiguous ethical approach that emphasizes risk, supported by narratives of contingency. Georgiana Banita is a postdoctoral fellow at the US Studies Centre.