On State Power, Queer Aesthetics & Asian/Americanist Critique
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2016 Dislocating Camps: On State Power, Queer Aesthetics & Asian/ Americanist Critique Christopher Alan Eng The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1240 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] DISLOCATING CAMPS: ON STATE POWER, QUEER AESTHETICS & ASIAN/AMERICANIST CRITIQUE by CHRISTOPHER ALAN ENG A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 © 2016 CHRISTOPHER ALAN ENG All Rights Reserved ii Dislocating Camps: On State Power, Queer Aesthetics & Asian/Americanist Critique By Christopher Alan Eng This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in English in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________ ____________________________________________ Date Kandice Chuh Chair of Examining Committee _______________ ____________________________________________ Date Mario DiGangi Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Eric Lott Robert Reid-Pharr Karen Shimakawa THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT DISLOCATING CAMPS: ON STATE POWER, QUEER AESTHETICS & ASIAN/AMERICANIST CRITIQUE by Christopher Alan Eng Advisor: Kandice Chuh My dissertation argues that the history of Asian racialization in the United States requires us to grapple with the seemingly counterintuitive entanglement between “the camp” as exceptional space of biopolitical management and “camp” as a performative practice of queer excess. While each practice of camp has been theorized as exemplary of modernity, these considerations have been largely separated into studies of political economy on the one hand, and queer aesthetics on the other. Taken up predominantly in political philosophy and the social sciences, the former centers the death camps in Europe during World War II as epitomizing state violence within modern politics. Meanwhile, celebratory narratives in queer studies champion camp aesthetics as a crucial survival strategy against widespread homophobia. Yet, these accounts neglect to consider how camps have sustained longer histories of racial violence. Examining camps organized around labor, internment, resettlement, and counterinsurgency, I consider how camps proliferated in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century onward alongside exclusionary measures against Asian migrants as a means of policing the parameters of citizenship and expanding the state’s capacities for managing space and bodies. My project establishes how these camps stage states of provisionality wherein populations are configured as provisional to national belonging along the axes of race and sexuality. That provisional state, in iv other words, affords the improvisation of the meaningfulness of legal citizenship. Camp aesthetics play a pivotal yet understudied role in the processes of racialization that produce confinement as well as embodied practices that challenge them. This project traces a genealogy of camps that have mediated the entry of Asians into the United States, including Chinese railroad work camps, Japanese internment camps, resettlement camps for Southeast Asian refugees during the Cold War, and the counterinsurgency camps in the Philippines. Juxtaposing the governmental archives of these camps in relation to a set of literatures and performances, each chapter focuses on a figure central to (Asian) American Studies—the coolie, the internee, the refugee, the diva, and the Asian American—and attends to how they articulate and are mediated by these multiple forms of camp. Analyzing legal texts and government reports alongside cultural productions by David Henry Hwang, Maxine Hong Kingston, Miné Okubo, Karen Tei Yamashita, Chay Yew and others, I explore how these works use camp aesthetics to locate and dislocate the various logics of encampment that provide the conditions of possibility for juridico-political decisions to construct and sustain sites of encampments. Tracing the contestation of encampment through campiness in Asian/American history, I elucidate the creative modes of solidarities that such cultural works envision. In this way, this project deepens understandings about not only the interconnections between state power and sexuality, but also the processes by which militarized violence and rightlessness are rationalized, negotiated, and challenged. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I can’t help but feel sentimental as I reflect on all the people who have accompanied me along this journey. This piece of writing before you is a labor of love, nourished by the innumerable acts of support, encouragement, engagement, kindness, and camaraderie provided by generous friends, family, and mentors. I express my sincerest gratitude and deepest thanks to my advisor Kandice Chuh. My first encounter with Kandice was through the page during my undergraduate studies. I distinctly recall the moment when, reading Imagine Otherwise on the bus, I came to recognize and embrace the term Asian Americanist as the position that encapsulated my burgeoning intellectual and political commitments. Since then, I never cease to be amazed by how Kandice embodies and practices her theoretical and political convictions. Kandice is the epitome of critical generosity. Thank you so much, Kandice, for everything. My dissertation committee members Robert Reid-Pharr, Eric Lott, and Karen Shimakawa, have been formative to my intellectual development. Robert always affectionately pushed me to question the very assumptions underlying the arguments that I make and to think more deeply about the terms that I use. Eric has been such a strong believer of this project. His enthusiasm has been so wonderful and I am thankful that he joined us here at CUNY. Karen always reminds me to remember the forms of extravagance, fun, and creativity created through the performances and artistic practices we analyze. I am thankful for Ruth Wilson Gilmore, who first suggested that I pursue the inkling of this project through a keywords essay. Thank you Ruthie, who insistently foregrounding the political importance of the intellectual work we do and for reminding me to attend to the specificity of language in my writing. Without Duncan Faherty, I would not be at The Graduate Center. It has been moving to observe how Duncan advocates tirelessly on behalf of students. I am honored to call him my friend. vi Early on in my life, Anita Mui and other female divas encapsulated the essence of fabulosity for me. Since then, the music-makers of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China have provided me with so many moments of cathartic release, especially during graduate school, as I have distorted their songs beyond recognition. For my education in Cantonese, I am indebted to my teacher, Yu Xiuli, and the New York Chinese School. Kudos to my friends Carmen Chiu, Melissa Ng, and Michele Quach for sticking it out for fourteen years with me during those Saturday mornings. At BTHS, Maryanne Bove created a supportive community that helped me survive, Alice Kaufman taught me to love literature, and Barbara Ross showed me what it means to approach history critically. During my first semester as a college student, a friendly peer who sat in front of me in Chinese class turned around and introduced herself. Thank you, Olivia Lin, for introducing me to Asian American Studies through the most fulfilling experiences of student activism. I cherish our meetings in the Brookdale dorms with Sasha Ahuja, Jessica Lee, and Emil Marquita when we dreamt up CRAASH. Kevin Park’s dedication and labor in pushing its mission forward give me much hope. I am forever grateful to my teacher and mentor Jennifer Hayashida for all the work she does for Asian American Studies. Jen always encouraged me to think about the public intellectual as a model for Asian Americanist work. I had the honor of calling Sonjia Hyon both my boss, at the Asian American International Film Festival, and my teacher. Sonjia immersed me in the scholarship around gender and sexuality in Asian American Studies. I am thankful as well to professors Paolo Javier, Dana Liu, Harriet Luria, Richard Kaye, and Isabel Grayson. As an undergraduate at the CUNY Honors College, I was fortunate to have many mentors who truly supported me: Lee Quinby, Mike Lamb, Solita Alexander, and Adrienne Fitzgerald. Lee showed me the skills and approaches necessary for pursuing research in our honors colloquium. The vii Institute for Recruitment of Teachers at Andover further strengthened my commitment toward critical diversity in education. Thank you to my IRT family, especially Asabe Poloma and Ernest Gibson. For making the years in college so enjoyable and rewarding, thank you to Kathy Hua, Sohail Mathur, Sara Nuñez, Aditi Davray, Afua Adusei, and Avni Majithia-Sejpal. To my most beloved friends and interlocutors—Lynne Beckenstein, Joseph Bowling, Briana Brickley, Elizabeth Decker, Anne Donlon, LeiLani Dowell, Tonya Foster, Donatella Gallela, Nick Gamso, Caroline Hong, Kristina Huang, Stefanie Jones, Jenny LeRoy, Keith Miyake, Kristin Moriah, Maryam Parhizkar, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Melissa Phruksachart, Danica Savonick,