Beyond Biopolitics: Essays on the Governance of Life and Death

400 Pages·2011·8.47 MB·English

by  Patricia Ticineto Clough

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BEYOND BIOPOLITICS
r-~··
I
BEYOND BIOPOLITICS
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Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Wiltse, eds.
BEYOND
BIOPOLITICS
Essays on the Governance of Life and Death
Duke University Press Durham and London 2011
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
..
Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Wiltse, eds.
BEYOND
BIOPOLITICS
Essays on the Governance of Life and Death
Duke University Press Durham and London 2011
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
INTRODUCTION
Beyond Biopolitics: The Governance of Life and Death
Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Willse
© 2011 Duke University Press
All rights reserved Unexceptional Control: Governance, Race, and Population
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper@! 1. National Enterprise Emergency: Steps Toward an Ecology of Powers
Typeset in Quadraat by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Brian Massumi 19
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the 2. Human Security/National Security: Gender Branding and
last printed page of this book. Population Racism
Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Willse 6
A version of Chapter 1, "National Enterprise Emergency: Steps Toward an Ecology 4
of Powers," by Brian Massumi, appeared in 'Iheory, Culture K. Society 26:6 (2009) and
3· "The Turban Is Not a Hat": Queer Diaspora and Practices of Profiling
is printed by permission of the publisher, SA<i E Publications.
]asbir Puar 65
A version of Chapter 2, "!Iuman Security/National Security: Gender Branding and
Population Racism," by Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Willse, appeared in Social 4· Strict Scrutiny: "lhe Tragedy of Constitutional Law
Text 105 28:4 (2010) and is printed by permission of the publisher, Duke University
Sora Y. Han 106
Press.
A version of Chapter 3, "'"!he Turban Is Not a Hat': Queer Diaspora and Practices of
Preemption: Death and Life-Itself
Profiling," by Jasbir K. Puar, appeared in Terronst Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer
Time) (2007) and is printed by permission of the publisher, Duke University Press. 5· Necrologies; or, the Death of the Body Politic
A version of Chapter 4, "Strict Scrutiny: ·!he Tragedy of Constitutional Law," by Eugene Thacker 139
Sora Y. Han, ;:tppcarcd in Stan_f0rdjourna1 oJCivil Rights and Civil Liberties 4: I (2oo8) and
is printed by permission of the journal. 6. Mnemonic Control
A version of Chapter 8, "Strange Circulations: 'lhe Blood Economy in Rural China," Luciana Parisi and Steve Goodman 163
by Ann S. Anagnost, appeared in Economy and Society 31=4 (2oo6) and is reprinted by
7· Thanato-tactics
permission of the publisher, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Eyal Weizman 177
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
INTRODUCTION
Beyond Biopolitics: The Governance of Life and Death
Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Willse
© 2011 Duke University Press
All rights reserved Unexceptional Control: Governance, Race, and Population
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper@! 1. National Enterprise Emergency: Steps Toward an Ecology of Powers
Typeset in Quadraat by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Brian Massumi 19
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the 2. Human Security/National Security: Gender Branding and
last printed page of this book. Population Racism
Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Willse 6
A version of Chapter 1, "National Enterprise Emergency: Steps Toward an Ecology 4
of Powers," by Brian Massumi, appeared in 'Iheory, Culture K. Society 26:6 (2009) and
3· "The Turban Is Not a Hat": Queer Diaspora and Practices of Profiling
is printed by permission of the publisher, SA<i E Publications.
]asbir Puar 65
A version of Chapter 2, "!Iuman Security/National Security: Gender Branding and
Population Racism," by Patricia Ticineto Clough and Craig Willse, appeared in Social 4· Strict Scrutiny: "lhe Tragedy of Constitutional Law
Text 105 28:4 (2010) and is printed by permission of the publisher, Duke University
Sora Y. Han 106
Press.
A version of Chapter 3, "'"!he Turban Is Not a Hat': Queer Diaspora and Practices of
Preemption: Death and Life-Itself
Profiling," by Jasbir K. Puar, appeared in Terronst Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer
Time) (2007) and is printed by permission of the publisher, Duke University Press. 5· Necrologies; or, the Death of the Body Politic
A version of Chapter 4, "Strict Scrutiny: ·!he Tragedy of Constitutional Law," by Eugene Thacker 139
Sora Y. Han, ;:tppcarcd in Stan_f0rdjourna1 oJCivil Rights and Civil Liberties 4: I (2oo8) and
is printed by permission of the journal. 6. Mnemonic Control
A version of Chapter 8, "Strange Circulations: 'lhe Blood Economy in Rural China," Luciana Parisi and Steve Goodman 163
by Ann S. Anagnost, appeared in Economy and Society 31=4 (2oo6) and is reprinted by
7· Thanato-tactics
permission of the publisher, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Eyal Weizman 177
Transforming Value: The Measure of Life Capacities
8. Strange Circulations
Ann S. Anagnost 213
g. Necropoli tical Surveillance: Immigrants from Turkey in Germany
~a.ijatay Topal 238
10. From the Race War to the War on Terror
Randy Martin 258 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PART !V Technological Investments:
Temporality, Media, and Methodologies
11. "Seeing" Spectral Agencies: An Analysis of Lin+Lam
and Unidentified Vietnam
Una Chung 277
12. Here We Accrete Durations: Toward a Practice oflntervals Many of the chapters in this book are elaborations of presentations
in the Perceptual Mode of Power
given at a symposium held at the Graduate Center, City University
Am itS. Rai 306
of New York (cuNY), in 2oo6. We are thankful for the support of
13. Fascia and the Grimace of Catastrophe the Center for the Study of Women and Society, which hosted the
May joseph 332 symposium, and the Graduate Center, for funding the event. We are
14. Blackness and Governance especially grateful to all those who participated in the symposium,
Fred Moten and Stefano Harney 351 and from whom we learned so much.
Many graduate students and faculty at CUNY have made possible
Bibliography 363 the ongoing elaboration of social theory and social criticism that
Contributors 381 has informed this collection. In light of that effort, we happily thank
Index 385 each other. This collection represents the work we did together when
we were first active at the Center for the Study of Women and Society
(Patricia was director and Craig a fellow) and now as fellow sociolo
gists. Doing the work of scholarship together proved rewarding and
productive.
We also thank our current and former colleagues at CUNY, espe
cially Neil Smith, David Kajanzian, Michelle Fine, Joe Rollins, Vic
toria Taylor Pitts, Soniya Munshi, Greg Goldberg, Jean Halley, Hosu
Kim, Jonathan Cutler, Jacqueline Berman, Jeff Bussolini, Ananya
Mukherjea, Grace M. Cho, Lauren Jade Martin, Una Chung, Jamie
Skye Bianco, Rachel Schiff, Mitra Rastegar, Sam Han, Elizabeth
Bullock, Aaron Weeks, Kate Jenkins, Kim Cunningham, Deborah
Gambs, and Karen Gregory. We thank as well our friends and col
leagues from our wider circles whose support and thoughtful en-
Transforming Value: The Measure of Life Capacities
8. Strange Circulations
Ann S. Anagnost 213
g. Necropoli tical Surveillance: Immigrants from Turkey in Germany
~a.ijatay Topal 238
10. From the Race War to the War on Terror
Randy Martin 258 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PART !V Technological Investments:
Temporality, Media, and Methodologies
11. "Seeing" Spectral Agencies: An Analysis of Lin+Lam
and Unidentified Vietnam
Una Chung 277
12. Here We Accrete Durations: Toward a Practice oflntervals Many of the chapters in this book are elaborations of presentations
in the Perceptual Mode of Power
given at a symposium held at the Graduate Center, City University
Am itS. Rai 306
of New York (cuNY), in 2oo6. We are thankful for the support of
13. Fascia and the Grimace of Catastrophe the Center for the Study of Women and Society, which hosted the
May joseph 332 symposium, and the Graduate Center, for funding the event. We are
14. Blackness and Governance especially grateful to all those who participated in the symposium,
Fred Moten and Stefano Harney 351 and from whom we learned so much.
Many graduate students and faculty at CUNY have made possible
Bibliography 363 the ongoing elaboration of social theory and social criticism that
Contributors 381 has informed this collection. In light of that effort, we happily thank
Index 385 each other. This collection represents the work we did together when
we were first active at the Center for the Study of Women and Society
(Patricia was director and Craig a fellow) and now as fellow sociolo
gists. Doing the work of scholarship together proved rewarding and
productive.
We also thank our current and former colleagues at CUNY, espe
cially Neil Smith, David Kajanzian, Michelle Fine, Joe Rollins, Vic
toria Taylor Pitts, Soniya Munshi, Greg Goldberg, Jean Halley, Hosu
Kim, Jonathan Cutler, Jacqueline Berman, Jeff Bussolini, Ananya
Mukherjea, Grace M. Cho, Lauren Jade Martin, Una Chung, Jamie
Skye Bianco, Rachel Schiff, Mitra Rastegar, Sam Han, Elizabeth
Bullock, Aaron Weeks, Kate Jenkins, Kim Cunningham, Deborah
Gambs, and Karen Gregory. We thank as well our friends and col
leagues from our wider circles whose support and thoughtful en-
gagement made this work possible, especially Dean Spade, Christina Han
hardt, Kerwin Kaye, Beth Bernstein, Em Thuma, Jackie Orr, Vivian Nixon, Patricia Ticineto Clough
Anahid Kassabian, Amit Rai, Joseph Schneider, Steven Seidman, Anne Hoff and Craig Wiltse
man, Norman Denzin, Jasbir Puar, Stefano Harney, and Bruce Reis. To our
families we also send thanks: Christopher Martin Clough, Elizabeth Hariss
Clough, and Lucy Nash Clough, as well as the Steppe family, the Willse family,
the Spade-Goldschmidt-Lenz family, and David Proterra.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone at Duke University Press-Ken BEYOND BIOPOLITICS
Wissoker, Sharon Torian, Courtney Berger, Jade Brooks, Neal McTighe, Jeff
The Governance of Life and Death
Canaday, and Christine Choi. We especially wish to thank J. Reynolds Smith,
who stood behind this work from the start.
Both in the United States and around the world, neoliberalism con
tinues to raise difficult questions about the rightful conduct of the
state. This is in part because in neoliberalism an extralegal admin
istrative discourse has turned the legitimacy of governance over to
technical systems of compliance and efficiency that underwrite the
relationship of the state and the economy with a biopolitics of war,
terror, and surveillance. From the very start of Barack Obama's ad
ministration, for example, there was an intensification of an admin
istrative and bureaucratic legality, even though the administration
was set to reformulate neoliberalism. In the first few months of
2009, the administration responded to the debate regarding prac
tices of torture authorized and administered by U.S. government
and military officials during the Bush regime's "war on terror." The
practice of water boarding was particularly controversial.
While public knowledge of waterboarding already existed, a series
of events-Attorney General Eric Holder's unequivocal comment
during a confirmation hearing on January 16, 2009, that waterboard
ing is torture, Obama's issuance of an executive order on January 22,
2009, banning the use of harsh interrogation tactics, and the release
in April2009 of the so-called torture memos-coalesced to produce
calls for the investigation and possible prosecution of Bush admin
istration officials who had authorized waterboarding. While some
members of the Obama administration voiced an interest in "mov-
viii Acknowledgments
gagement made this work possible, especially Dean Spade, Christina Han
hardt, Kerwin Kaye, Beth Bernstein, Em Thuma, Jackie Orr, Vivian Nixon, Patricia Ticineto Clough
Anahid Kassabian, Amit Rai, Joseph Schneider, Steven Seidman, Anne Hoff and Craig Wiltse
man, Norman Denzin, Jasbir Puar, Stefano Harney, and Bruce Reis. To our
families we also send thanks: Christopher Martin Clough, Elizabeth Hariss
Clough, and Lucy Nash Clough, as well as the Steppe family, the Willse family,
the Spade-Goldschmidt-Lenz family, and David Proterra.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone at Duke University Press-Ken BEYOND BIOPOLITICS
Wissoker, Sharon Torian, Courtney Berger, Jade Brooks, Neal McTighe, Jeff
The Governance of Life and Death
Canaday, and Christine Choi. We especially wish to thank J. Reynolds Smith,
who stood behind this work from the start.
Both in the United States and around the world, neoliberalism con
tinues to raise difficult questions about the rightful conduct of the
state. This is in part because in neoliberalism an extralegal admin
istrative discourse has turned the legitimacy of governance over to
technical systems of compliance and efficiency that underwrite the
relationship of the state and the economy with a biopolitics of war,
terror, and surveillance. From the very start of Barack Obama's ad
ministration, for example, there was an intensification of an admin
istrative and bureaucratic legality, even though the administration
was set to reformulate neoliberalism. In the first few months of
2009, the administration responded to the debate regarding prac
tices of torture authorized and administered by U.S. government
and military officials during the Bush regime's "war on terror." The
practice of water boarding was particularly controversial.
While public knowledge of waterboarding already existed, a series
of events-Attorney General Eric Holder's unequivocal comment
during a confirmation hearing on January 16, 2009, that waterboard
ing is torture, Obama's issuance of an executive order on January 22,
2009, banning the use of harsh interrogation tactics, and the release
in April2009 of the so-called torture memos-coalesced to produce
calls for the investigation and possible prosecution of Bush admin
istration officials who had authorized waterboarding. While some
members of the Obama administration voiced an interest in "mov-
viii Acknowledgments