Intersectionality of Racial Profiling: A Call for a Broader Understanding (original) (raw)

Abstract

Racial profiling is a form of state violence that has profound and impactful consequences and constitutes a significant social issue. Drawing on intersectional analyses of policing and criminalization, this chapter seeks to enhance our understanding of racial profiling, its complexities, and its effects. Relying on empirical data from Switzerland and Germany, we propose directing attention toward three specific aspects within the context of policing in Europe. First, we argue that the complex and multifaceted instances of racial profiling necessitate an examination of numerous, interconnected forms of inequality, surveillance, and violence. Second, we argue that it is necessary to highlight intersecting and intertwined institutional assemblages that create, support, and sustain policing practices within the punitive state apparatus. Third, we emphasize the importance of acknowledging the differences in both the consequences faced by individuals subjected to racial profiling and their diverse responses to such experiences. By exploring various facets of inequality, institutional dynamics, and individual experiences, our objective is to show how an intersectional approach can enrich the depth of analysis concerning racism and contribute to a more comprehensive analysis of struggles against police violence.

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  71. Claudia Wilopo (she) is a postdoctoral scholar in cultural anthropology and urban studies. She is currently a recipient of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) postdoctoral scholarship and is associated with both San Francisco State University and the University of Basel. Her research interests revolve around engaged scholarship, citizenship, migration, racism, racial profil- ing, and urban governance from an intersectional perspective. Claudia is also engaged in various queer-feminist and antiracist groups.
  72. Tino Plümecke is a postdoctoral researcher and co-investigator at the Institute of Sociology, University of Freiburg, Germany, working in the Human Diversity in the New Life Sciences: Social and Scientific Effects of Biological Differentiations project. His research interests consist of science and technology studies, theories of discrimination, and critical race studies with a specific focus on the history and recent developments in genetics and post-genomics.