Violent Subjects: A Rhetorical Cartography of Bodies, Spaces, and Technologies in the Global War on Terror A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Heather Ashley Hayes IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Ronald Walter Greene, Adviser April 2013 © Heather Ashley Hayes 2013 Acknowledgements A scholar I once read compared writing a dissertation to the act of entering a credit economy in which one is always a debtor. In the analogy, the author of the project, a graduate student, lives off of credit, both literal and metaphorical, and often in the process incurs debts for which there is no suitable method of compensation. I wholeheartedly agree with this metaphor. While many find significant anxiety in openly pointing to their debts, particularly in the midst of a stagnant economy, I take this opportunity to not only acknowledge, but to express my immense gratitude for these lines of credit. I will never be able to adequately repay those mentioned herein. First, I am grateful for the mentors I have had since I began my graduate work. Roseann Mandziuk and Ann Burnette were significant influences in my early graduate school years and have been loyal and supportive friends and feminist role models for me as I travel this path. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell was key in helping me develop as a scholar in my first year of Ph.D. coursework. Kirt Wilson probably had the most influence on improving my scholarship during my early Ph.D. work and was an early voice of encouragement when I most doubted my ability to succeed as a scholar. My committee has been irreplaceable during my graduate work. Bill Beeman was an excellent sounding board for ideas and offered strong, helpful advice for me in building a multidisciplinary project from a rhetorical perspective. Ed Schiappa was most influential as a mentor in my first two years of Ph.D. work at the University of Minnesota, and was tireless in his support, advice, and care for my scholarly development through my most difficult years in pursuing a Ph.D. Ronald Walter Greene stands alone in his influence on my work, his friendship and support throughout my dissertation process, and his dedication to my personal, scholarly, and professional pursuits. I owe much of the success of this work, both already accomplished and any forthcoming, to him. Finally, Art Walzer has been a supportive friend, mentor, and confidante throughout all of my years at the University of Minnesota. From opening his home for Thanksgiving dinners to giving me honest, productive advice when I most needed it, I will be forever grateful to him and his partner Ginny for their friendship and support. Additionally, I am thankful for various colleagues who each, at some point, offered meaningful words of encouragement through this process, sometimes without even knowing it. These include, though are not limited to: Mary Stuckey, Jay Childers, Casey Kelly, Kristin Hoerl, Matthew May, Rebecca Fox, Thomas C. Johnson, Annie Hill, Kate Johnston, Matthew DeTar, Carol Winkler, Sam Perry, Brandon Inabinet, and finally, my dear friends and supportive colleagues Leslie Hahner and Scott Varda. Gil Rodman has been not only a mentor and co-collaborator, but also has become a lifelong friend. Next, I would be remiss without mentioning the love of family and friends who have offered endless support throughout this work. These include Lee Mahaley, Rhett and Cindy Mahaley, Steve Mahaley, Allison Edwards Mahaley, David Mahaley, Ted and i Becky Clark, Betty Sue Greene, Aubrey Coleman, Cindy Nash, Sally Schrivener, Sandra Byrd, Marty Tolan, and Colleen Fuston. Lisa, Taylor, MacKenna, and Kieran Quinlan have not only been incredible neighbors but have become wonderful friends whose support has been instrumental for me. I owe an unspeakable debt to my four grandparents, none of who survived into my adult years. Yet, Frank and Cupidean Clark reconfigured their great aunt and uncle duties into adoptive grandparents and I am forever thankful. Finally, I am fortunate to have intelligent and caring peers. Shelby Bell and Allison Prasch have been model colleagues, ideal office mates, and contributed to important discussions that were vital for my understandings of rhetoric throughout graduate school. Kate Ranachan and Scott Makstenieks were wonderful writing group partners who each offered key feedback on multiple drafts of chapters in this monograph. Corrina Yerke was not only a loving, caring friend in the last year of this project’s development, but a scholarly partner with insightful reads of key material. David Tucker served as both a supportive friend and a sounding board for some of the ideas of this dissertation. Kaitlyn Patia is not only one of my closest friends, but also has provided important and vital insight for my work through many discussions throughout the last four years. Finally, Matthew Bost has singlehandedly been the most influential colleague in the development of this work, not only in his continued personal support and friendship, but also in his productive readings of its many drafts and his feedback in building key arguments within the dissertation. I close by noting four additional people without whom this work would never have been pursued, or completed. Paula Baldwin has been an amazing colleague and friend since my first day in graduate school and her care over the years has been key to any success I have enjoyed. Sean Johnson, through his love and support, has helped keep my work honest to my political commitments – and has been a powerful force in helping me think through what being an academic means for me. Christopher Davis has been a loving friend that has tirelessly supported me in a variety of ways throughout my graduate work, and throughout my entire adult life. Finally, Jason Weidemann has been my closest confidante since I began my Ph.D. work; he is always a voice of fair, caring critique and support without which my work would surely have suffered. I am grateful to these four people beyond what words will allow me to express. ii Dedication The work of this monograph is dedicated in three parts. First, globally, to the students, scholars, activists, and citizens who have come before me, worked with me or at the same time as I, and will come after me, seeking to understand the world in which we live in the wake of the global war on terror. To the solidarity we have in our quest to examine, explicate, and ultimately, to change our circumstance. Second, personally, to Ruben Beard and Sue Anderson, adopted family members and longtime friends. Third, finally, to Tommy Lee Hayes and Judith Anne Mahaley Hayes, whose years of support, love, and care through my successes and my failures alike provided much of the foundation to which I often turn in both my brightest and darkest days. iii Abstract Looking to the bodies of suicide attackers, to the circulating technologies of the United States drone program, and to the space of Egypt’s Tahrir Square in January of 2011, this project expands the ways rhetorical studies has conceptualized the relationship between violence and discourse. It also generates political and cultural insights about the possibilities for newly formed subjectivities and their relationship to violence within the global war on terror and beyond. The monograph argues that these insights point to a refiguration of the rhetorical situation as primarily composed of bodies, spaces/places, and technologies and attends to the ways different subjectivities arise and circulate within larger maps of contemporary global power. More specifically, the project produces three areas of insight. First, for rhetorical studies, it suggests a refiguring of the rhetorical situation to be understood as material. As such, it suggests that the rhetorical situation is composed of bodies, technologies, and spaces/places. This new transsituated circuit would replace the understanding of the rhetorical situation as primarily composed of exigencies, audiences, and constraints as previously argued in the context of rhetorical studies scholarship. Second, for interdisciplinary modes of investigation, the project further develops rhetorical cartography as a method of inquiry, drawing foundationally from both rhetorical studies and from critical cartography and geography. This method allows for mapping of modes of materiality within rhetorical situations and cultural moments. Finally, the project suggests political and cultural insights for understanding the conjuncture of the global war on terror. Here, the project posits that through rhetorical cartography, we can better iv understand the multitude of ways that subject positions are generated, changed, and reconstituted for people to occupy within the global war on terror. v Table of Contents Chapter One The Relationship between Violence and Discourse: A Disciplinary History…………………………………………………………1-29 Chapter Two The Birth of Rhetoricoviolence and the Evolution of the Rhetorical Situation…………………...………….………...30-49 Chapter Three The Materiality of Body Rhetoric: Rhetoricity, Subjectivity, and Suicide Attack…………………………......…50-76 Chapter Four The Rise of U.S. Drone Culture: The State’s Campaign of Violence and Its Ceaseless Circulation……...…...77-125 Chapter Five Subjectivity and Constituent Violence: Tahrir Square and the Arab Spring, January 2011…………………….......126-169 Chapter Six Some Conclusions on Rhetoricoviolence: The Possibilities for Violent Subjects in the Global War on Terror……....170-187 Bibliography……...…………………………………………………………..……188-198