Framed by symbolic power as a theory of performance, this essay takes as its subject the state’s use of performance transience for oppressive ends. For Pierre Bourdieu, the symbolic field is about group misrecognition of existing power differentials as legitimate distinctions. Building from this theory, I examine the 2009 US Government Counterinsurgency Guide’s work in the symbolic field. At once a military, social, and performance theory, the Guide creates categorization schemas that differentially define states and people based off of performances of loyalty to US interests. Through the concept of the “non-combatant civilian,” these hierarchies position non-US populations as always already threatening, and acquire social authorization through the threat of further violence. By generating roles for groups of people and framing the means of enforcing those roles, the Guide uses performance transience to structure a symbolic order with deeply racializing consequences.

本文以象征性权力作为绩效理论的框架，以国家为压迫性目的使用绩效过渡为主题。对于皮埃尔·布迪厄（Pierre Bourdieu）而言，象征性领域是关于将现有能力差异作为合法区分的群体误认。基于这一理论，我研究了《 2009年美国政府平叛指南》在象征性领域的工作。该指南同时涉及军事，社会和绩效理论根据对美国利益的忠诚度，创建分类方案，以区别地定义州和人民。通过“非战斗用平民”的概念，这些等级将非美国人口定位为一直在受到威胁，并通过进一步的暴力威胁获得社会认可。通过为一群人创造角色并确定执行这些角色的方式，《指南》利用绩效暂态来构建具有深刻种族后果的象征性秩序。