Abnormal in Alberta: The Genealogy of “Severely Normal” as a Biopolitical Dog Whistle

Abstract

The phrase “severely normal” was often used by Premier Ralph Klein in 1990s’ Alberta to describe the Albertans he wished to interpellate, and it has had enduring power as a dog whistle by the political right in the province. Against commentators who see it as only a facile populist gesture, in this article the author deploys Foucault’s lectures on “racism against the abnormal,” together with Ladelle McWhorter’s interpretation, to argue that there is a historical and conceptual continuity to “severely normal” that ties back to Alberta’s infamous eugenic history. Articulating this genealogy enables the connection of political struggles on the part of sexual minorities, disabled people, members of non-normative families, and Indigenous people and illuminates the biopolitical rhetoric of successive Conservative governments.