Dislocation: Toward a Framework for the Study of Crises

Abstract The paper develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of crises. It rests on the central argument that crises cannot be restricted to exceptional occurrences or temporarily delimited events, but we approach crisis as ontologically constitutive for our everyday lives. The concept of “discursive dislocation” is the cornerstone of this endeavor, as it grasps multiple aspects of sociopolitical instability, including societal deficiencies, fragilities, and political failures. Through theoretically advancing the concept of dislocation, we systematize three dimensions of crisis as permanent, recurring, and ephemeral dislocation. This allows us to analyze crises not only in their immediate environment but also makes it possible to understand them in their broader sociopolitical context. The conceptual framework is illustrated with the example of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, which reveals how the construction of the pandemic as a crisis is embedded in the historically ingrained self-portrayal of the United States, and how crisis responses are invoked to serve particular sociopolitical purposes in retaining an established American identity.