Ethnographies of U.S. Empire

Description

How do we live in and with empire? The contributors to Ethnographies of U.S. Empire pursue this question by examining empire as an unequally shared present. Here empire stands as an entrenched, if often invisible, part of everyday life central to making and remaking a world in which it is too often presented as an aberration rather than as a structuring condition. This volume presents scholarship from across U.S. imperial formations: settler colonialism, overseas territories, communities impacted by U.S. military action or political intervention, Cold War alliances and fissures, and, most recently, new forms of U.S. empire after 9/11. From the Mohawk Nation, Korea, and the Philippines to Iraq and the hills of New Jersey, the contributors show how a methodological and theoretical commitment to ethnography sharpens all of our understandings of the novel and timeworn ways people live, thrive, and resist in the imperial present. Contributors: Kevin K. Birth, Joe Bryan, John F. Collins, Jean Dennison, Erin Fitz-Henry, Adriana María Garriga-López, Olívia Maria Gomes da Cunha, Matthew Gutmann, Ju Hui Judy Han, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Eleana Kim, Heonik Kwon, Soo Ah Kwon, Darryl Li, Catherine Lutz, Sunaina Maira, Carole McGranahan, Sean T. Mitchell, Jan M. Padios, Melissa Rosario, Audra Simpson, Ann Laura Stoler, Fa’anofo Lisaclaire Uperesa, David Vine Carole McGranahan is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado and the author of Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War, also published by Duke University Press. John F. Collins is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Queens College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of Revolt of the Saints: Memory and Redemption in the Twilight of Brazilian Racial Democracy, also published by Duke University Press. “Ethnographies of U.S. Empire is an exceptionally rich collection of articles on the variety of forms American imperialism takes, both internally (starting with the dispossession of Native peoples from their lands) and globally. And unlike some of the grander and less grounded takes on empire as an almost abstract phenomenon, these authors approach the problem ethnographically, through closely observed case studies that powerfully capture the texture of experience of real people in real places in a world of colonial, post-colonial, and imperial power.” — Sherry B. Ortner, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles “Bringing together some of the most compelling and innovative ethnographers working today on U.S. empire, this volume makes a substantial and influential contribution to the critical study of U.S. imperial formations. It will be an indispensable touchstone for the discipline of anthropology and essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the complex dynamics of U.S. global power.” — Alyosha Goldstein, editor of, Formations of United States Colonialism Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Ethnography and U.S. Empire / John F. Collins and Carole McGranahan 1 I. Settlement, Sentiment, Sovereignty 1. The "Affects" of Empire: (Dis)trust among Osage Annuitants / Jean Dennison 27 2. Milking the Cow for All It's Worth: Settler Colonialism and the Politics of Imperialist Resentment in Hawai?i / J. Kehaulani Kauanui 47 3. Sovereignty, Sympathy, and Indigeneity / Audra Simpson 72 II. Colonialism by Any Other Name 4. A School of Addicts: The Coloniality of Addiction in Puerto Rico / Adriana María Garriga-López 93 5. Inhabiting the Aporias of Empire: Protest Politics in Contemporary Puerto Rico / Melissa Rosario 112 6. Training for Empire?: Samoa and American Gridiron Football / Fa?anofo Lisaclaire Uperesa 129 7. Exceptionalism as a Way of Life: U.S. Empire, Filipino Subjectivity, and the Global Call Center Industry / Jan M. Padios 149 III. Temporality, Proximity, Dispersion 8. In Their Place: Cottica Ndyuka in Moengo / Olívia Maria Gomes da Cunha 173 9. Shifting Geographies of Proximity: Korean-led Evangelical Christian Missions and the U.S. Empire / Ju Hui Judy Han 194 10. Sites of the Postcolonial Cold War / Heonik Kwon 214 11. Time Standards and Rhizomatic Imperialism / Kevin K. Birth 227 IV. Military Promises 12. Islands of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Ethnography of U.S. Empire / David Vine 249 13. Domesticating the U.S. Air Force: The Challenges of Anti-Military Activism in Manta, Ecuador / Erin Fitz-Henry 270 14. The Empire of Choice and the Emergence of Military Dissent / Matthew Gutmann and Catherine Lutz 291 V. Residue, Rumors, Remnants 15. Locating Landmines in the Korean Demilitarized Zone / Eleana Kim 313 16. Love and Empire: The CIA, Tibet, and Covert Humanitarianism / Carole McGranahan 333 17. Trust Us: Nicaragua, Iran-Contra, and the Discursive Economy of Empire / Joe Bryan 350 18. Empire as Accusation, Denial, and Structure: The Social Life of U.S. Power at Brazil's Spaceport / Sean T. Mitchell 369 VI. 9/11, The War on Terror, and the Return of Empire 19. Radicalizing Empire: Youth and Dissent in the War on Terror / Sunaina Maria 391 20. Deporting Cambodian Refugees: Youth Activism, State Reform, and Imperial Statecraft / Soo Ah Kwon 411 21. Hunters of the Sourlands: Empire and Displacement in Highland New Jersey / John F. Collins 431 22. From Exception to Empire: Sovereignty, Carceral Circulation, and the "Global War on Terror" / Darryl Li 456 Afterword. Disassemblage: Rethinking U.S. Imperial Formations / Ann Laura Stoler in conversation with Carole McGranahan 477 Bibliography 491 Contributors 539 Index 541