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Year 2023, Volume: 17 Issue: 2, 212 - 224, 29.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1340482

Abstract

References

  • Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life. (D. Roazen, Trans.). Stanford UP.
  • Bhabha, H. (1990). DissemiNation: time, narrative, the margins of the modern nation. In H. Bhabha (Ed.) Nation and narration (pp. 291-322). Routledge.
  • Derrida, J. (April 2004) For a justice to come: An interview with Jacques Derrida. (Ortwin de Graef, Trans). http://www.indymedia.be/news/2004/04/83123_comment.php#83281
  • Derrida, J. (1992) Force of law: The mystical foundation of authority. In Drucilla Cornell (Ed.) Deconstruction and the possibility of justice (pp. 3-67) Routledge.
  • D’Souza, D. (2002). In praise of the American empire. Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0426/p11s01-coop.html
  • Douglass, F. (1857). Two Speeches by Frederick Douglass. C. P. Dewy Printer. “Downes v. Bidwell.” 244 U. S. 244 244-391. No. 507. U.S. Supreme Court.1901. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Lexi-Nexis. DCC Library. 10 Sep 2005. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe “Dred Scott v. Sandford.” 60 U.S. 393. 1-547. U.S. Supreme Court.1857. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Lexi- Nexis. DCC Library. 10 Sep 2005. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe
  • Dubois, W. E. B. (1999). The souls of the black folk. Norton.
  • Fisher, P. (1991). Introduction: The new American studies. In Philip Fisher (Ed.) The new American studies: Essays from representations (pp. vii-xxii). University of Berkeley Press.
  • Fukuyama, F. (1992). The end of history and the last man. Free Press.
  • Jefferson, T. (1895). The writings of Thomas Jefferson. Putnam.
  • Lauter, P. (2001). From Walden Pond to Jurassic Park: Activism, culture and American studies. Duke UP.
  • Jameson, F. (2002). The singular modernity: Essay on the ontology of the present. Verso.
  • Kaplan, A. (1993). Left alone with America: The absence of empire in the study of American culture. In Amy Kaplan and Donald E. Pease (Ed.) Cultures of United States imperialism (pp. 3-21) Duke UP.
  • Kaplan, A. (2002). The anarchy of empire in the making of U.S. culture. Harvard UP.
  • Kaplan, A. (2004). Violent Belongings and the question of Empire today: Presidential address to the American Studies Association, October 17, 2003. American Quarterly 56(1), 1-18.
  • Kaplan, A. (2018). Our American Israel: The story of an entangled alliance. Harvard UP.
  • Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Harvard UP.
  • Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2004). Multitude: War and democracy in the age of empire. Penguin.
  • Morrison, T. (1994). Unspeakable things unspoken. In Angelyn Mitchell (Ed.) Within the Circle: An anthology of African American literary criticism from Harlem Renaissance to the present (pp. 368-398) Duke UP.
  • Morrison, T. (1993). Playing in the dark. Vintage.
  • Rorty, R. (1998). Achieving our country: Leftist thought in twentieth-century America. Harvard UP.
  • Rowe, J. C. (2002). The new American studies. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Said, E. (1983). Opponents, Audiences, Constituencies and Community. In H. Foster (Ed.) Postmodern Culture. Pluto.
  • Singh, N. P. (2004). The Spectacle of Empire. American Quarterly 56(2), 429-437.
  • Schmitt, C. (2003). The nomos of the earth in the international law of the jus publicum Europaeum, G.L. Ulmen (Trans). Telos.
  • Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. Oxford UP.

Empire and Exception in Amy Kaplan’s Works, and Beyond

Year 2023, Volume: 17 Issue: 2, 212 - 224, 29.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1340482

Abstract

“Empire and Exception in Amy Kaplan’s Works, and Beyond” explores the relationship between empire and the concept of legal exception in Amy Kaplan’s works. Kaplan (1953-2020) was an influential critic and thinker in the field of American Studies. She is known primarily for her edited volume Cultures of US Imperialism (Duke UP 1994) and her monograph The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture (Harvard UP 2005). This paper revisits both of these texts and her last book Our American Israel: The Story of an Entangled Alliance (Harvard UP 2018) and re-examines her fierce scrutiny of American exceptionalism and US cultures of Imperialism. The paper reads Kaplan’s contribution to the study of imperialism through the lens of exceptionalism by juxtaposing her work with the works by four other thinkers of Empire and Exceptionalism: Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Carl Schmitt, and Giorgio Agamben. The paper traces the shift from culture to law in the critical discourses of U.S. imperialism and argues that a critique of empire needs to take into account, to recall Agamben’s apt formulation, the “permanent state of exception” that he believes we all live in. By referring to two U.S. Supreme court cases, Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) and Downes v. Bidwell (1901), the paper contends, however, that even though legal exceptionalism is at the heart of imperialism which includes only through exclusion or occupies only to leave the colonized space unincorporated, yet, since the exception is closely related to Sovereignty, a wholesale critique of exceptionalism that we find in many otherwise astute critiques of U.S. imperialism might be counterproductive as it would unwittingly boost the regimes of globalization or universalism.

References

  • Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life. (D. Roazen, Trans.). Stanford UP.
  • Bhabha, H. (1990). DissemiNation: time, narrative, the margins of the modern nation. In H. Bhabha (Ed.) Nation and narration (pp. 291-322). Routledge.
  • Derrida, J. (April 2004) For a justice to come: An interview with Jacques Derrida. (Ortwin de Graef, Trans). http://www.indymedia.be/news/2004/04/83123_comment.php#83281
  • Derrida, J. (1992) Force of law: The mystical foundation of authority. In Drucilla Cornell (Ed.) Deconstruction and the possibility of justice (pp. 3-67) Routledge.
  • D’Souza, D. (2002). In praise of the American empire. Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0426/p11s01-coop.html
  • Douglass, F. (1857). Two Speeches by Frederick Douglass. C. P. Dewy Printer. “Downes v. Bidwell.” 244 U. S. 244 244-391. No. 507. U.S. Supreme Court.1901. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Lexi-Nexis. DCC Library. 10 Sep 2005. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe “Dred Scott v. Sandford.” 60 U.S. 393. 1-547. U.S. Supreme Court.1857. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Lexi- Nexis. DCC Library. 10 Sep 2005. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe
  • Dubois, W. E. B. (1999). The souls of the black folk. Norton.
  • Fisher, P. (1991). Introduction: The new American studies. In Philip Fisher (Ed.) The new American studies: Essays from representations (pp. vii-xxii). University of Berkeley Press.
  • Fukuyama, F. (1992). The end of history and the last man. Free Press.
  • Jefferson, T. (1895). The writings of Thomas Jefferson. Putnam.
  • Lauter, P. (2001). From Walden Pond to Jurassic Park: Activism, culture and American studies. Duke UP.
  • Jameson, F. (2002). The singular modernity: Essay on the ontology of the present. Verso.
  • Kaplan, A. (1993). Left alone with America: The absence of empire in the study of American culture. In Amy Kaplan and Donald E. Pease (Ed.) Cultures of United States imperialism (pp. 3-21) Duke UP.
  • Kaplan, A. (2002). The anarchy of empire in the making of U.S. culture. Harvard UP.
  • Kaplan, A. (2004). Violent Belongings and the question of Empire today: Presidential address to the American Studies Association, October 17, 2003. American Quarterly 56(1), 1-18.
  • Kaplan, A. (2018). Our American Israel: The story of an entangled alliance. Harvard UP.
  • Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Harvard UP.
  • Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2004). Multitude: War and democracy in the age of empire. Penguin.
  • Morrison, T. (1994). Unspeakable things unspoken. In Angelyn Mitchell (Ed.) Within the Circle: An anthology of African American literary criticism from Harlem Renaissance to the present (pp. 368-398) Duke UP.
  • Morrison, T. (1993). Playing in the dark. Vintage.
  • Rorty, R. (1998). Achieving our country: Leftist thought in twentieth-century America. Harvard UP.
  • Rowe, J. C. (2002). The new American studies. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Said, E. (1983). Opponents, Audiences, Constituencies and Community. In H. Foster (Ed.) Postmodern Culture. Pluto.
  • Singh, N. P. (2004). The Spectacle of Empire. American Quarterly 56(2), 429-437.
  • Schmitt, C. (2003). The nomos of the earth in the international law of the jus publicum Europaeum, G.L. Ulmen (Trans). Telos.
  • Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. Oxford UP.
There are 26 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Literary Theory, Literary Studies (Other)
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Puspa Damai 0009-0002-3861-3630

Early Pub Date December 28, 2023
Publication Date December 29, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 17 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Damai, P. (2023). Empire and Exception in Amy Kaplan’s Works, and Beyond. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 17(2), 212-224. https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1340482

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