Rhetoric Review Oct 2019

The Racial Politics of Circulation: Trumpicons and White Supremacist Doxai

Laurie Gries ; Phil Bratta Oklahoma State University Oklahoma City

Abstract

This article presents the racial politics of circulation as a critical concept for elucidating how whiteness, nationhood, and doxa intertwine to reinforce and amplify white supremacy within a context of white nationalist postracialism. As a case study, the authors investigate how two popular slogans associated with Donald Trump drive the production and circulation of digital doxicons called Trumpicons and how such Trumpicons, in turn, feed back into a socio-political loop of white supremacist logics. In studying how Trumpicons become embroiled in such racial politics of circulation, the authors disclose how new media images contribute to an affective economy of whiteness in contemporary American culture.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2019-10-02
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2019.1655306
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research race and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Morris et al. (2025)
    Victimhood Rhetorics: How Stormfront Spread White Nationalism Online and Beyond
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Lawson (2025)
    Nuancing Networks: On the Individuation of Doxa in Online Communities
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Scott (2023)
    Rearticulating “Crisis” and the U.S.-Mexico Border
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Harley (2021)
    Music against Fascism: DIY Versus the Right Wing Safety Squad
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 5 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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