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    Exceptional State
    Contemporary U.S. Culture and the New Imperialism

    Ashley Dawson (Edited by), Malini Johar Schueller (Edited by)

    9780822338208

    Paperback / softback, published 29 June 2007

    328 pages
    23.5 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.472 kg

    “Exceptional State is a timely and important collection of essays which together address crucial questions about change and continuity between the current imperial moment and the history of U.S. imperialism.”-Amy Kaplan, coeditor of Cultures of United States Imperialism
    “In this superb collection, leading theorists of cultural imperialism adroitly expose why neoliberalism is dangerously beguiling to a nation torn between fear of terrorism and desire to maintain superpower hegemony. Moving from powerful critiques to essays that empower resistance, this volume shows how historical accounts of U.S. imperialism can serve as enabling acts for a democratic future in the making.”-Lee Quinby, author of Millennial Seduction: A Skeptic Confronts Apocalyptic Culture
    “Exceptional State captures the cultural affirmation, and attendant psychological and sociological ramifications of US imperialism. These essays analyse the subtle and more overt ways the tentacles of hegemony permeate the lives of people all around the world. . . . Exceptional State really is essential reading for anyone who fancies themselves as an enjoyer of freedom and democracy. Get it while you can!”
    - Megan Yarrow (M/C Reviews)

    Exceptional State analyzes the nexus of culture and contemporary manifestations of U.S. imperialism. The contributors, established and emerging cultural studies scholars, define culture broadly to include a range of media, literature, and political discourse. They do not posit September 11, 2001 as the beginning of U.S. belligerence and authoritarianism at home and abroad, but they do provide context for understanding U.S. responses to and uses of that event. Taken together, the essays stress both the continuities and discontinuities embodied in a present-day U.S. imperialism constituted through expressions of millennialism, exceptionalism, technological might, and visions of world dominance.

    The contributors address a range of topics, paying particular attention to the dynamics of gender and race. Their essays include a surprising reading of the ostensibly liberal movies Wag the Dog and Three Kings, an exploration of the rhetoric surrounding the plan to remake the military into a high-tech force less dependent on human bodies, a look at the significance of the popular Left Behind series of novels, and an interpretation of the Abu Ghraib prison photos. They scrutinize the national narrative created to justify the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the ways that women in those countries have responded to the invasions, the contradictions underlying calls for U.S. humanitarian interventions, and the role of Africa in the U.S. imperial imagination. The volume concludes on a hopeful note, with a look at an emerging anti-imperialist public sphere.

    Contributors. Omar Dahbour, Ashley Dawson, Cynthia Enloe, Melani McAlister, Christian Parenti, Donald E. Pease, John Carlos Rowe, Malini Johar Schueller, Harilaos Stecopoulos

    Acknowledgments ix
    Introduction: Rethinking Imperialism Today / Ashley Dawson and Malini Johar Schueller 1
    Part 1: Technologies of Imperialism
    Culture, US Imperialism, and Globalization / John Carlos Rowe 37
    Between the Homeland and Abu Ghraib: Dwelling in Bush’
    s Biopolitical Settlement / Donald E. Pease 60
    Planet America: The Revolution in Military Affairs as Fantasy and Fetish / Christian Parenti 88
    Hegemony and Rights: On the Liberal Justification for Empire / Omar Dahbour 105
    Part 2: Engendering Imperialism
    Updating the Gendered Empire: Where Are the Women of Occupied Afghanistan and Iraq? / Cynthia Enloe 133
    Techno-Dominance and Torturegate: The Making of US Imperialism / Malini Johar Schueller 162
    Part 3: Imagining Others
    Left Behind and the Politics of Prophecy Talk / Melani McAlister 191
    Putting an Old Africa on Our Map: British Imperial Legacies and Contemporary US Culture / Harilaos Stecopoulos 221
    New Modes of Anti-imperialism / Ashley Dawson 248
    Coda: Information Mastery and the Culture of Annihilation / Ashley Dawson and Malini Johar Schueller 275
    Bibliography 285
    Contributors 301
    Index 303
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