Rationalization and concealment of violence in American responses to 9/11: Orientalism(s) in a state of exception

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the growing efforts to articulate the governance of violence in the post-9/11 context through a close reading of Michel Foucault’s and Giorgio Agamben’s work. For Foucault, the pre-modern form of levying-on-violence lost its “legitimate” power, and violence became a hidden part of our society. Edward Said applied a Foucauldian framework in Orientalism to articulate its discursive episteme as well as the disciplining processes of the Oriental subjects. Yet postcolonial criticism has not moved forward from the polemics of Said’s alleged “misuse” of Foucault’s framework. This paper draws attention to the relevance of Foucault’s work on violence to Orientalism through a renewed reading of Agamben’s discussion on the state of exception. Agamben’s contention that western law contains certain interpretative/anomic elements poses a curious challenge to a Foucauldian analysis. This essay will pay particular attention to the intricacies of post-9/11 tactics of governing violence, while extending the conceptual coordinates of Foucault’s and Agamben’s work to a wider understanding of the hidden, often contradicting gap between modern discourses of “democracy”, violence and the multiplicities of Othering and Orientalism.

Keywords:

• Orientalism
• discipline
• state of exception
• violence
• democracy

Notes

1. For example, see Nichols (111–44) for a review of Said’s critics including Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Aijaz Ahmed and Robert Young. I have benefited from discussions with Pavan Kumar Malreddy on the critics of Orientalism, and his insights on “new” and “post”-Orientalism.

2. A notable exception is Gregory (205–36)

3. This information is based on my archival research in Japan as part of my doctoral dissertation at the University of Saskatchewan.

4. See Nichols (111–44) for a critical review of contrasting positions on this aspect.

5. Bush’s re-election–however controversial it may be – reflects his popular support.

6. See “Edward Said – The Last Interview, Part 1”.

7. The evidence is widely available on the Internet and electronic media, and in various anti-war documentations on YouTube, which are too numerous to mention

8. See “Afghan Massacre: the Convoy of Death.”