“This is Not America”: States of Emergency in Europe

• Main Author: Liam Kennedy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Association for American Studies 2020-12-01
• Series: European Journal of American Studies
• Subjects: transatlantic; coronavirus; race; protests; emergency
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/ejas/16368

The COVID-19 pandemic and the protests in solidarity with those protesting the death of George Floyd in the US constitute a conjunctural crisis in Europe, exposing the hollowness of grand narratives and geopolitical fantasies―not least those of “the West” and “transatlanticism.” In the interregnum of the present, as a new world order takes form, the pandemic and race emergencies not only intensify European rejection of the US, they reveal the frailty of the “European project” and anxiety about the future of Europe. This article examines ways in which these emergencies signal an uncomfortable European disinvestment from the fantasy of America as a liberal and redemptive power.