Table Of ContentGlobal Re-Visions
edited by
Shampa Biswas, Bruce Magnusson, and Zahi Zalloua
University of Washington Press
Seattle and London
in association with
Whitman College
Walla Walla, Washington
This series aims to pursue the challenges that globalization poses, and
the possibilities that it offers, in an interdisciplinary setting. Each vol-
ume seeks to promote a more nuanced understanding of timely issues
while providing critical dialogue with prior scholarship and new ways of
shaping how these issues are envisioned and framed. The series probes
to what extent our vision of globalization both alters and is altered by
the singularity and complexity of the topic at hand, compelling, in turn,
perpetual re-visions.
Torture: Power, Democracy, and the Human Body
edited by Shampa Biswas and Zahi Zalloua
Contagion: Health, Fear, Sovereignty
edited by Bruce Magnusson and Zahi Zalloua
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library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Torture : power, democracy, and the human body /
edited by Shampa Biswas and Zahi Zalloua.
p. cm. — (Global re-visions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-295-99122-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Torture—Moral and ethical aspects—Congresses. 2. Human body—
Moral and ethical aspects—Congresses. 3. Psychiatric ethics—Congresses.
4. Mind and body—Congresses. I. Biswas, Shampa. II. Zalloua, Zahi Anbra, 1971–
III. Title: Power, democracy, and the human body.
hv8593.t6627 2011
364.6'7—dc23 2011029716
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48.1984.
Cont ent s
ACknoWledGments vii
IntRodUCtIon
Torture, Democracy, and the Human Body
Shampa Biswas and Zahi Zalloua 3
1 toRtURe And demoCRACy
What Now?
Darius Rejali 25
2 noW thAt We’Ve toRtURed
Image, Guilt, Consequence
Mark Danner 46
3 “We ARe All toRtUReRs noW”
Accountability after Abu Ghraib
Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn 67
4 dyInG Is not PeRmItted
Sovereignty, Biopower, and Force-Feeding at Guantánamo Bay
Lauren Wilcox 101
5 the toRtURe deVICe
Debate and Archetype
Stephanie Athey 129
6 sPeCteRs of the MuselMann
Guantánamo Bay Penalogial Theme Park and the Torture of Omar Khadr
Joseph Pugliese 158
7 thIs fRAGIle Body
Susan Crile’s Abu Ghraib: Abuse of Power
Julia A. Ireland 188
8 sRI lAnkA
Landscapes of Massacre
Suvendrini Perera 215
BIBlIoGRAPhy 245
notes on ContRIBUtoRs 265
Index 269
ACknoWl edGment s
T
his volume emerged out of the symposium “Torture and the
Human Body” held at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washing-
ton, on February 27, 2009. Organized by the Global Studies Ini-
tiative, the symposium was developed to stimulate an interdisciplinary
conversation on a topic of contemporary relevance. It appears to us that
too many of our most important conversations happen within the rela-
tively narrow confines of academic disciplines or specialist communities.
Inspired by the liberal arts model of colleges like Whitman, we believe
that it is both possible and valuable to generate discussions across dif-
ferent kinds of epistemic communities without sacrificing intellectual
rigor. Our hope is that this volume, much like the symposium, will con-
tinue what we consider to be an absolutely necessary public debate on
the question of torture and will do so in a way that is both sophisticated
and accessible to various reading publics. Stephanie Athey, Mark Danner,
Julia Ireland, Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn, and Darius Rejali participated
in the symposium and contributed revised versions of their presentations
to this volume.
vii
Our foremost gratitude goes to the many faculty, administrators, stu-
dents, and staff who have helped make Whitman College the vibrant
intellectual community that makes possible projects such as these. We
would like to thank President George Bridges, former provost and dean
of faculty Lori Bettison-Varga, and current provost and dean of faculty
Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn for all their encouragement and support.
The Global Studies steering committee, composed of Gaurav Majumdar
viii (English), Bruce Magnusson (Politics), Jim Russo (Chemistry), and Elyse
Semerdjian (History), was the intellectual force that helped conceptual-
ize and implement this project. Susan Bennett, administrative assistant
to the provost and dean of faculty, provided crucial logistical support all
along the way. And most important, none of this would have been possible
without the enthusiasm and interest of the smart and dedicated students
of Whitman College. Among these, we owe particular thanks to several
individual students whose contributions are reflected in many ways in this
volume. Philosophy major Adam Chapman (2009), Politics major Nadim
Damluji (2010), and English major Valerie Lopez (2009) were all partici-
pants in the symposium, and many of the chapters in this volume were
enriched by their sharp commentary. Politics majors Ali Edwards (2010)
and Tristan Grau (2011) provided invaluable research and editing sup-
port. We cannot emphasize enough how instrumental these and other
students were in posing probing questions, challenging the contributors
to sharpen their analyses, and in general elevating the quality of the sym-
posium and the resulting volume through their active engagement. As
teachers at Whitman College, we consider ourselves fortunate to be in the
midst of such thoughtful and supportive colleagues and students. Finally,
we would like to thank Pat Soden, Marilyn Trueblood, and Jacqueline
Ettinger for all their encouragement and help with this volume and Laura
Iwasaki for her superb copyediting of the manuscript.
We would like to express our gratitude for permission to reprint
Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn’s “‘We are all torturers now’: Accountability
After Abu Ghraib,” Theory & Event 11, no. 2 (2008), and Joseph Pugliese’s
“Apostrophe of Empire: Guantánamo Bay, Disneyland,” borderlands 8,
no. 3 (2009): 1 – 26, which appears here in slightly modified form.
ACknoWledGments
t oRt URe
