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Article published In: Discourses on Racism and Resilience: Between power and resistance
Edited by Marjo Lindroth, Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen and Claes Tängh Wrangel
[Journal of Language and Politics 25:2] 2026
► pp. 275–294

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Racialising the resilient brain

The eugenic underpinnings of US military neurobiological discourse

ORCiD logo with link | Swedish Defence University
ORCiD logo with link | University of Lapland
Published online: 5 January 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.25101.wra
Abstract
This article analyses how the US military constructs dangerous Others through the language of neurobiology, with reference to the resilience and plasticity of human brains. To explore this, we conduct a Laclau and Mouffe inspired discourse analysis of the neurobiological research supported and disseminated by the US Department of War’s Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) programme. Our focus is on the racialised imaginary of the SMA programme, and we analyse how neurobiological research is enlisted to distinguish between populations on account of perceived brain differences. Violence in both the Global South and among ethnic minorities in the Global North is seen to emanate from these differences according to the SMA. Revealing the racialised underpinnings of this discourse, including its eugenic genealogy, this article challenges critical approaches invested in the emancipatory potentials of neurobiology with respect to race and racism, as well as violence and colonialism.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Anti-racist hopes in neuroscience
  • 3.The neurobiologically resilient brain in US military discourse: “Different cultures, different brains”
  • 4.US neurobiological warfare: Eugenics 2.0
  • 5.Conclusion: Freeing neurobiology from war and racism
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (66)
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