BEYOND THE EROTICS OF ORIENTALISM. HOMELAND SECURITY, LIBERAL WAR AND THE PACIFICATION OF THE GLOBAL FRONTIER MELANIE RICHTER-MONTPETIT A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN POLITICAL SCIENCE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO September 2014 © Melanie Richter-Montpetit, 2014 Dissertation Abstract Beyond the Erotics of Orientalism: Homeland Security, Liberal War and the Pacification of the Global Frontier traces the post-9/11 ascendancy of a complex and seemingly contradictory U.S. national security imaginary and concomitant practices of war and violence. On the one hand, the U.S. security state supported at times quite radical transgressions from the gendered racial-sexual grammars of the usual “War Story” (Cooke, 1996), such as the active involvement of women in the torture of enemy prisoners, the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy and more recently its support for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act. The U.S. social formation also took a seemingly great leap forward towards “post-racial triumph” (Ho Sang & LaBennett, 2012, p. 5) with the most diverse Presidential cabinet in U.S. history under Bush Jr. culminating in 2008 in the election of Barack Obama, the first American President racialized as Black. On the other hand, the U.S. security state aggressively pursued the racialized expansion and intensification of the (extrajudicial) use of military and carceral force in time and space, including selective deportations, indefinite detentions, the creation of an official torture policy and targeted killings of so-called enemy combatants outside of official warzones, including of US citizens. Beyond the Erotics of Orientalism explores these reconfigurations of law and belonging within broader shifts in contemporary liberal governance, in particular the promise that the 19th century colour line (DuBois, 1903) has been transcended and no longer per se marks populations as in/violable. I show how in this era of post-racial/sexual/gender triumph, the liberal project of security governs not only through military and carceral force, but also affectively through self-rule and the promotion of social difference. The dissertation locates the U.S. War on Terror's II ambiguous promise of liberal freedom, equal inclusion and self-rule in the desires and disavowals of a White settler society in “the afterlife of slavery” (Hartman, 2007, p. 6). Building on the work of Native feminist and Afro-Pessimist theorists, this study suggests that we can only meaningfully interrogate the operations of power and violence in contemporary U.S. security making - including against Orientalized subjects - by accounting for the foundational role of anti-Black racism and the settler colonial character of the U.S. social formation. These interlocking racial-sexual logics mobilize knowledges of war and violence that facilitate not only the targeting of Muslim/ified people and spaces, but in turn also help secure the gendered racial-sexual order and property regime of the settler colonial homeland in this age of “post-everything” (Crenshaw, 2014) triumph. III Acknowledgements There are many people I would like to thank for their support and guidance throughout my doctoral studies. Writing the dissertation allowed me to enter a sustained engagement with several wonderful individuals and communities over issues very dear to me. My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor, Anna M. Agathangelou, for her outstanding intellectual guidance and self-less time and care in seeing me finish and flourish. Anna carefully read various drafts of every chapter and offered rigorous yet supportive critique. I benefited greatly not only from Anna’s incredible expertise on the subject but also her unflinching faith and encouragement as I was navigating some major personal challenges during my studies. My sincere thank you also to my PhD committee members Andil Gosine and Sandra Whitworth for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of the dissertation. I am deeply thankful for their heartfelt support for me finishing the thesis and establishing myself professionally. I presented some of the chapters at various conferences and would like to thank in particular David Mutimer for his helpful comments and suggestions. When I look back at my time at YorkU I will always be grateful for all the support I received during my MA and PhD studies from the administrative staff at the department, Marlene Quesenberry, Jlenya Sarra-De Meo and Judy Matadial. Over the years, I got to connect with established scholars who encouraged, supported and guided me intellectually and professionally. I would like to thank in particular Annick T R Wibben, Anita Lacey, Cai Wilkinson, Kim Rygiel, Laura Parisi, Laura Shepherd, Liz Philipose, Mark Salter, Marshall Beier, Megan MacKenzie, Sandra McEvoy, Simona Sharoni, Swati Parashar and Victoria Basham. My gratitude also to the “oldies” at YCISS who supported me with much great advise from the first year I joined them at the IV Centre – thank you to Alison Howell, Colleen Bell, Elizabeth Dauphinée, Maya Eichler and Ryerson Christie. Much of the thinking that has gone into this dissertation developed over time by engaging with the political analyses and lived practices of brilliant and generous friends as well as of various community organizations and social movements in Toronto, including No One Is Illegal, No More Silence, CUPE3903, Maggie’s and Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, to mention just a few. For conversations that shaped my thinking about various aspects of the dissertation I would like to thank Aslı Zengin, Begüm Uzun, Bikrum Gill Singh, Carmen Sanchez, Chris Hendershot, Deepa Rajkumar, Elisa Wynne-Hughes, John Carlaw, Juliane Edler, Lori Crowe, Melisa Breton, Melissa White, Naoko Ikeda, Nayrouz Abu-Hatoum, Nelson Lai, Özlem Aslan, Preethy Sivakumar, Ravinder Gill, Ritu Mathur, Shihoko Nakagawa, Ümit Aydoğmuş, Véronique Aubry, and Zuba Wai. A special thank you to Nishant Upadhyay for his precious engagement, practical help and friendship in getting this dissertation done. I am indebted also to the members of the PhD workshop for comments on the dissertation and providing a sense of community: Abhinava Kumar, Arthur Imperial, Johanna May Black, Roshan Jahangeer, Konstantin Kilibarda, and Hena Tyyebi. Thank you also to my wonderful students in last year’s American Politics seminar for your spirited engagement with many of the themes of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Angelica Reyes Fraga, Renée Ferguson, Suzette Colliard and Tanya Ferguson – our conversations continue to open my political imaginary and give me faith that another world is indeed possible. Finally, my deep gratitude to my family for all their love and support: my parents Carmen and Dieter Richter, my brother Christian, Oma Richter, Tante Edith, grandpa Harold C. Nance and Tania. V An earlier version of chapter four appeared as “Beyond the Erotics of Orientalism. Lawfare, torture and the racial-sexual grammars of legitimate suffering” in Security Dialogue, 45:1, February, 2014, pp. 43-62. Parts of chapter five appeared first as “Empire, Desire and Violence: A Queer Transnational Feminist Reading of the Prisoner ‘Abuse’ in Abu Ghraib and the Question of ‘Gender Equality’” in International Feminist Journal of Politics, 9:1 March, 2007, pp. 38-59. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ VII INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 GOVERNING THROUGH FREEDOM ...................................................................................................................... 11 BEYOND ORIENTALISM: TALKING SECURITY, MAKING RACE ...................................................................................... 13 SEX, (NATIONAL) LOVE AND FAMILY ................................................................................................................... 15 RACE, VIOLENCE, BELONGING AND THE LAW ........................................................................................................ 17 THEORETICAL APPROACH AND METHODS OF STUDY ............................................................................................... 19 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION ...................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 1: LIBERAL SECURITY AND THE GOVERNANCE OF LIFE AND DEATH IN THE U.S. WAR ON TERROR ................................................................................................................................................. 31 BEYOND SOVEREIGNTY OR CUTTING OFF THE KING’S HEAD ...................................................................................... 31 THE RISE OF BIOPOLITICS AND THE ARTS OF GOVERNMENT ...................................................................................... 32 BEYOND PRACTICES OF FREEDOM. ON THE DARK UNDERBELLY OF LIBERAL SECURITY ....................................................