Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 10-15-2010 12:00 AM Outlawry and the Experience of the (Im)possible: Deconstructing Biopolitics Mary J. Bunch University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Christopher Keep The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Mary J. Bunch 2010 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Political Theory Commons Recommended Citation Bunch, Mary J., "Outlawry and the Experience of the (Im)possible: Deconstructing Biopolitics" (2010). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 26. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/26 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. 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OUTLAWRY AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE (IM)POSSIBLE: DECONSTRUCTING BIOPOLITICS (Spine title: Outlawry and the Experience of the (Im)possible) (Thesis format: Monograph) by Mary Bunch Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Mary Bunch 2010 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Christopher Keep Dr. Verónica Schild ______________________________ Supervisory Committee Dr. Jan Plug ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Sam Trosow ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Constantin Boundas The thesis by Mary Jennifer Bunch entitled: Outlawry and the Experience of the (Im)possible: Deconstructing Biopolitics is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ______________________ _______________________________ Date Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii Abstract Outlawry is a legal penalty that banishes wrongdoers from the community; it refers to a refusal to obey the law and a withdrawal of legal rights. Although outlawry is obsolete in western criminal law, Giorgio Agamben links it to modern biopolitics. As outlawry is appropriated to preserve the law, and as the law takes life as its object, the subject of politics disappears. Yet biopolitics also occurs alongside a threat to sovereignty posed by outlawry, and a shift away from the subject as a site of emancipatory politics, toward a politics of difference. Taking a post-structural approach, this project examines outlawry as a deconstructive concept. Outlawry exposes the law’s inability to be at one with itself, its undecidability, and its dependence on fiction and force to come into being and to maintain itself. Staging outlawry in the terms of Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, and Jacques Derrida, the first chapter develops outlawry as deconstructive concept with an undecidable relationship to justice. Chapter two looks to Judith Butler’s performative subject and Louis Althusser’s theory of subject interpellation to re-think the relations between subject and law in light of outlawry. Chapter three examines the overlap between sovereignty, outlawry and the beast (la bête) discussed by Agamben and Derrida, and considers political concepts that might deter the conserving power of outlawry in favor of its deconstructive force. Finally, I turn to Levinasian ethics and Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of becoming-minoritarian to sketch a politics of outlawry that revises the law according to an ethical responsibility to the Other, the political agency of those who are excluded from the law, and their demand that structures of power be altered. Outlawry need not result in sheer abjection; for both the subject, and the anarchic demos, it can be a source of political vitality and social transformation. Yet as the atrocities of modernity bear witness, from the Shoah to Guantanamo Bay, outlawry can lead to ‘the worst.’ Outlawry marks the fault line between justice and injustice; if we are to achieve an ethical future, we must remain politically vigilant, self-critical and open to alterity. Keywords Outlawry, law, deconstruction, performativity, biopolitics, identity politics, democracy, totalitarianism, multiplicity, becoming animal, becoming minoritarian, Derrida, Agamben, Benjamin, Schmitt, Butler, Althusser, Levinas, Deleuze, Guattari iii Acknowledgements This dissertation is the culmination of influence, support and encouragement from many sources. I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Christopher Keep, who never failed to challenge me with his incisive criticism and high expectations. Sincere appreciation is also extended to my reader, Dr. Verónica Schild, for her critical feedback, guidance, and friendship over the years. I would also like to thank the other members of the examining committee, Dr. Constantin Boundas, Dr. Sam Trosow and Dr. Jan Plug for their challenging questions and insightful engagement with the work. Thanks also to Dr. Helen Fielding, for her ongoing mentorship and support. I will forever be grateful to my parents, Noelle Stutt-Walsh and Dr. Gary Bunch, who encouraged my intellectual curiosity, and always supported my endeavors. Their passion for learning and teaching has been my example, and their lives and choices were the foundation of my own opportunities and achievements. I am also grateful to my brothers and sisters, Matthew, Martin, Adam, Megan, and especially my sister Rebecca, for their love and support, and to Becky’s partner Steve Millar, also a friend and colleague, for editing my bibliography. I have been fortunate to learn from so many extraordinary professors, colleagues, students and friends, too numerous to mention by name, but nonetheless deserving of thanks. I would also like to acknowledge Melanie Caldwell-Clark, whose friendship and gracious helpfulness as Program Coordinator helped make my years at the Theory Centre a pleasure. Thanks to Jane Manning and Anthony and Summer Manning-Catt, for their support and encouragement, and to Chance and Shoshawna Manning for their enthusiasm. My appreciation also extends to Tom Jackson, for his insights and stimulating conversations, and to Norm Jackson, for sharing his stories and viewpoint. Both twins were an inspiration. The ideas in this dissertation emerged in dialogue with Dolleen Manning. I owe her my deepest gratitude for sharing her life, for her patience, and for the emotional and practical support she gave so generously throughout the process of writing this dissertation. Thanks also for sharing her family, especially her unforgettable mother, Rose Manning, who was so welcoming and unflinching in her ethical demand. iv Table of Contents CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION .............................................................................................................II ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................................III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................................. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................................................................V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................................................................VII INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................1 A MODERN HISTORY OF THE OUTSIDE OF THE LAW........................................................................................3 THE POLITICAL STAKES .....................................................................................................................................7 BIOPOLITICS AND TOTALITARIANISM................................................................................................................9 OUTLAWRY AS DECONSTRUCTION ..................................................................................................................14 OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................................................17 CHAPTER I: OUTLAWRY AS DECONSTRUCTION...............................................................................20 BENJAMIN’S ‘OUTLAW’ PHILOSOPHY .............................................................................................................23 THE REVOLUTIONARY AND THE ‘GREAT CRIMINAL’......................................................................................26 OUTLAWRY AS EXCEPTION..............................................................................................................................29 THE MYSTICAL FOUNDATION OF THE LAW.....................................................................................................34 THE CREATIVE FORCE OF PERFORMATIVITY...................................................................................................40 THE IMPOSTER..................................................................................................................................................45