Christian P. Haines
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823286942
- eISBN:
- 9780823288717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823286942.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter distinguishes American exceptionalism from what the author terms a singular America. It argues that American exceptionalism depends on disciplining or taming the utopianism associated ...
More
This chapter distinguishes American exceptionalism from what the author terms a singular America. It argues that American exceptionalism depends on disciplining or taming the utopianism associated with the United States. The chapter defines a singular America as a politics, culture, and literature that draws on American exceptionalism only to overturn the latter’s investments in capitalism, settler colonialism, and the nation-state. It argues that American Studies needs to pay more attention to the excluded middle between American exceptionalism and its critique—a zone of politics and culture in which complicity and critique mutually constitute one another. The chapter also explains the connection between the critical discourse of biopolitics and utopianism, reading the work of Michel Foucault in terms of how it refocuses utopianism on the body and life, rather than geography or space. It elaborates a singular America in terms of a literary commons: a tradition of literature devoted to non-capitalist and non-sovereign social relations. Finally, the chapter explains the book’s literary historical trajectory—how it connects the American Renaissance (or mid-nineteenth century) to the contemporary period—in terms of the rise and decline of American hegemony in the capitalist world-system.Less
This chapter distinguishes American exceptionalism from what the author terms a singular America. It argues that American exceptionalism depends on disciplining or taming the utopianism associated with the United States. The chapter defines a singular America as a politics, culture, and literature that draws on American exceptionalism only to overturn the latter’s investments in capitalism, settler colonialism, and the nation-state. It argues that American Studies needs to pay more attention to the excluded middle between American exceptionalism and its critique—a zone of politics and culture in which complicity and critique mutually constitute one another. The chapter also explains the connection between the critical discourse of biopolitics and utopianism, reading the work of Michel Foucault in terms of how it refocuses utopianism on the body and life, rather than geography or space. It elaborates a singular America in terms of a literary commons: a tradition of literature devoted to non-capitalist and non-sovereign social relations. Finally, the chapter explains the book’s literary historical trajectory—how it connects the American Renaissance (or mid-nineteenth century) to the contemporary period—in terms of the rise and decline of American hegemony in the capitalist world-system.
Craig Calhoun and Georgi Derluguian (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814772775
- eISBN:
- 9780814723555
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814772775.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This book situates the current crisis in the historical trajectory of the capitalist world-system, showing how the crisis was made possible not only by neoliberal financial reforms but by a massive ...
More
This book situates the current crisis in the historical trajectory of the capitalist world-system, showing how the crisis was made possible not only by neoliberal financial reforms but by a massive turn away from manufacturing things of value towards seeking profit from financial exchange and credit. Much more basic than the result of a few financial traders cheating the system, this is a potential historical turning point. The book establishes why the system was ripe for crisis of the past, and yet why this meltdown was different. It concludes by asking whether as deep as the crisis is, it may contain seeds of a new global economy, what role the US will play, and whether China or other countries will rise to global leadership. This is the first part of a trilogy comprised of the first three books in the Possible Future series.Less
This book situates the current crisis in the historical trajectory of the capitalist world-system, showing how the crisis was made possible not only by neoliberal financial reforms but by a massive turn away from manufacturing things of value towards seeking profit from financial exchange and credit. Much more basic than the result of a few financial traders cheating the system, this is a potential historical turning point. The book establishes why the system was ripe for crisis of the past, and yet why this meltdown was different. It concludes by asking whether as deep as the crisis is, it may contain seeds of a new global economy, what role the US will play, and whether China or other countries will rise to global leadership. This is the first part of a trilogy comprised of the first three books in the Possible Future series.
Jack Linchuan Qiu
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040627
- eISBN:
- 9780252099069
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040627.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
This chapter concludes the volume with reflections on our past, present, and future. Three circular models are discussed as a way to summarize the structural similarities between iSlavery and the ...
More
This chapter concludes the volume with reflections on our past, present, and future. Three circular models are discussed as a way to summarize the structural similarities between iSlavery and the seventeenth-century system of triangular trade, while proposing a tentative model of collective action toward an alternative future, a model in which gadgets serve people and promote global justice. Linking up continents, peoples, and technologies, these models are all about circuits of capital accumulation, structural domination, and endless struggle. They bring about cultural change, from far-flung communities to everyday practices and mundane social relations. Ultimately, the chapter considers our possible future, as we move on from iSlavery and the capitalist world system.Less
This chapter concludes the volume with reflections on our past, present, and future. Three circular models are discussed as a way to summarize the structural similarities between iSlavery and the seventeenth-century system of triangular trade, while proposing a tentative model of collective action toward an alternative future, a model in which gadgets serve people and promote global justice. Linking up continents, peoples, and technologies, these models are all about circuits of capital accumulation, structural domination, and endless struggle. They bring about cultural change, from far-flung communities to everyday practices and mundane social relations. Ultimately, the chapter considers our possible future, as we move on from iSlavery and the capitalist world system.
