Beyond the Erotics of Orientalism: Homeland Security, Liberal War and the Pacification of the Global Frontier

379 Pages·2014·10.456 MB·English

by  Melanie Richter-Montpetit

BEYOND
 THE
 EROTICS
 OF
 ORIENTALISM.

HOMELAND
 SECURITY,
 LIBERAL
 WAR
 AND
 THE
 PACIFICATION

OF
 THE
 GLOBAL
 FRONTIER

MELANIE
 RICHTER-­‐MONTPETIT

A
 DISSERTATION
 SUBMITTED
 TO
 THE
 FACULTY
 OF
 GRADUATE

STUDIES
 IN
 PARTIAL
 FULFILLMENT
 OF
 THE
 REQUIREMENTS

FOR
 THE
 DEGREE
 OF
 DOCTOR
 OF
 PHILOSOPHY

GRADUATE
 PROGRAM
 IN
 POLITICAL
 SCIENCE

YORK
 UNIVERSITY

TORONTO,
 ONTARIO

September
 2014

©
 Melanie
 Richter-­‐Montpetit,
 2014
Dissertation
 Abstract

Beyond
 the
 Erotics
 of
 Orientalism:
 Homeland
 Security,
 Liberal
 War
 and
 the
 Pacification
 of
 the

Global
 Frontier
 traces
 the
 post-­‐9/11
 ascendancy
 of
 a
 complex
 and
 seemingly
 contradictory

U.S.
 national
 security
 imaginary
 and
 concomitant
 practices
 of
 war
 and
 violence.
 On
 the
 one

hand,
  the
  U.S.
  security
  state
  supported
  at
  times
  quite
  radical
  transgressions
  from
  the

gendered
 racial-­‐sexual
 grammars
 of
 the
 usual
 “War
 Story”
 (Cooke,
 1996),
 such
 as
 the
 active

involvement
 of
 women
 in
 the
 torture
 of
 enemy
 prisoners,
 the
 repeal
 of
 the
 Don't
 Ask
 Don't

Tell
 policy
 and
 more
 recently
 its
 support
 for
 overturning
 the
 Defense
 of
 Marriage
 Act.
 The

U.S.
  social
  formation
  also
  took
  a
  seemingly
  great
  leap
  forward
  towards
  “post-­‐racial

triumph”
 (Ho
 Sang
 &
 LaBennett,
 2012,
 p.
 5)
 with
 the
 most
 diverse
 Presidential
 cabinet
 in

U.S.
 history
 under
 Bush
 Jr.
 culminating
 in
 2008
 in
 the
 election
 of
 Barack
 Obama,
 the
 first

American
  President
  racialized
  as
  Black.
  On
  the
  other
  hand,
  the
  U.S.
  security
  state

aggressively
 pursued
 the
 racialized
 expansion
 and
 intensification
 of
 the
 (extrajudicial)
 use

of
 military
 and
 carceral
 force
 in
 time
 and
 space,
 including
 selective
 deportations,
 indefinite

detentions,
 the
 creation
 of
 an
 official
 torture
 policy
 and
 targeted
 killings
 of
 so-­‐called
 enemy

combatants
 outside
 of
 official
 warzones,
 including
 of
 US
 citizens.
 Beyond
 the
 Erotics
 of

Orientalism
 explores
 these
 reconfigurations
 of
 law
 and
 belonging
 within
 broader
 shifts
 in

contemporary
 liberal
 governance,
 in
 particular
 the
 promise
 that
 the
 19th
 century
 colour
 line

(DuBois,
 1903)
 has
 been
 transcended
 and
 no
 longer
 per
 se
 marks
 populations
 as
 in/violable.

I
 show
 how
 in
 this
 era
 of
 post-­‐racial/sexual/gender
 triumph,
 the
 liberal
 project
 of
 security

governs
 not
 only
 through
 military
 and
 carceral
 force,
 but
 also
 affectively
 through
 self-­‐rule

and
 the
 promotion
 of
 social
 difference.
 The
 dissertation
 locates
 the
 U.S.
 War
 on
 Terror's

  II
ambiguous
 promise
 of
 liberal
 freedom,
 equal
 inclusion
 and
 self-­‐rule
 in
 the
 desires
 and

disavowals
 of
 a
 White
 settler
 society
 in
 “the
 afterlife
 of
 slavery”
 (Hartman,
 2007,
 p.
 6).

Building
 on
 the
 work
 of
 Native
 feminist
 and
 Afro-­‐Pessimist
 theorists,
 this
 study
 suggests
 that

we
  can
  only
  meaningfully
  interrogate
  the
  operations
  of
  power
  and
  violence
  in

contemporary
  U.S.
  security
  making
  -­‐
  including
  against
  Orientalized
  subjects
  -­‐
  by

accounting
 for
 the
 foundational
 role
 of
 anti-­‐Black
 racism
 and
 the
 settler
 colonial
 character

of
 the
 U.S.
 social
 formation.
 These
 interlocking
 racial-­‐sexual
 logics
 mobilize
 knowledges
 of

war
 and
 violence
 that
 facilitate
 not
 only
 the
 targeting
 of
 Muslim/ified
 people
 and
 spaces,

but
 in
 turn
 also
 help
 secure
 the
 gendered
 racial-­‐sexual
 order
 and
 property
 regime
 of
 the

settler
 colonial
 homeland
 in
 this
 age
 of
 “post-­‐everything”
 (Crenshaw,
 2014)
 triumph.

  III
Acknowledgements

There
 are
 many
 people
 I
 would
 like
 to
 thank
 for
 their
 support
 and
 guidance
 throughout
 my

doctoral
 studies.
 Writing
 the
 dissertation
 allowed
 me
 to
 enter
 a
 sustained
 engagement

with
 several
 wonderful
 individuals
 and
 communities
 over
 issues
 very
 dear
 to
 me.
 My

deepest
  gratitude
  goes
  to
  my
  advisor,
  Anna
  M.
  Agathangelou,
  for
  her
  outstanding

intellectual
 guidance
 and
 self-­‐less
 time
 and
 care
 in
 seeing
 me
 finish
 and
 flourish.
 Anna

carefully
 read
 various
 drafts
 of
 every
 chapter
 and
 offered
 rigorous
 yet
 supportive
 critique.

I
 benefited
 greatly
 not
 only
 from
 Anna’s
 incredible
 expertise
 on
 the
 subject
 but
 also
 her

unflinching
 faith
 and
 encouragement
 as
 I
 was
 navigating
 some
 major
 personal
 challenges

during
 my
 studies.
 My
 sincere
 thank
 you
 also
 to
 my
 PhD
 committee
 members
 Andil
 Gosine

and
 Sandra
 Whitworth
 for
 their
 insightful
 comments
 on
 earlier
 drafts
 of
 the
 dissertation.
 I

am
 deeply
 thankful
 for
 their
 heartfelt
 support
 for
 me
 finishing
 the
 thesis
 and
 establishing

myself
 professionally.
 I
 presented
 some
 of
 the
 chapters
 at
 various
 conferences
 and
 would

like
 to
 thank
 in
 particular
 David
 Mutimer
 for
 his
 helpful
 comments
 and
 suggestions.
 When
 I

look
 back
 at
 my
 time
 at
 YorkU
 I
 will
 always
 be
 grateful
 for
 all
 the
 support
 I
 received
 during

my
  MA
  and
  PhD
  studies
  from
  the
  administrative
  staff
  at
  the
  department,
  Marlene

Quesenberry,
 Jlenya
 Sarra-­‐De
 Meo
 and
 Judy
 Matadial.

Over
  the
  years,
  I
  got
  to
  connect
  with
  established
  scholars
  who
  encouraged,

supported
  and
  guided
  me
  intellectually
  and
  professionally.
  I
  would
  like
  to
  thank
  in

particular
 Annick
 T
 R
 Wibben,
 Anita
 Lacey,
 Cai
 Wilkinson,
 Kim
 Rygiel,
 Laura
 Parisi,
 Laura

Shepherd,
 Liz
 Philipose,
 Mark
 Salter,
 Marshall
 Beier,
 Megan
 MacKenzie,
 Sandra
 McEvoy,

Simona
 Sharoni,
 Swati
 Parashar
 and
 Victoria
 Basham.
 My
 gratitude
 also
 to
 the
 “oldies”
 at

YCISS
 who
 supported
 me
 with
 much
 great
 advise
 from
 the
 first
 year
 I
 joined
 them
 at
 the

  IV
Centre
 –
 thank
 you
 to
 Alison
 Howell,
 Colleen
 Bell,
 Elizabeth
 Dauphinée,
 Maya
 Eichler
 and

Ryerson
 Christie.

Much
 of
 the
 thinking
 that
 has
 gone
 into
 this
 dissertation
 developed
 over
 time
 by

engaging
 with
 the
 political
 analyses
 and
 lived
 practices
 of
 brilliant
 and
 generous
 friends
 as

well
 as
 of
 various
 community
 organizations
 and
 social
 movements
 in
 Toronto,
 including
 No

One
 Is
 Illegal,
 No
 More
 Silence,
 CUPE3903,
 Maggie’s
 and
 Queers
 Against
 Israeli
 Apartheid,
 to

mention
 just
 a
 few.
 For
 conversations
 that
 shaped
 my
 thinking
 about
 various
 aspects
 of
 the

dissertation
 I
 would
 like
 to
 thank
 Aslı
 Zengin,
 Begüm
 Uzun,
 Bikrum
 Gill
 Singh,
 Carmen

Sanchez,
 Chris
 Hendershot,
 Deepa
 Rajkumar,
 Elisa
 Wynne-­‐Hughes,
 John
 Carlaw,
 Juliane

Edler,
  Lori
  Crowe,
  Melisa
  Breton,
  Melissa
  White,
  Naoko
  Ikeda,
  Nayrouz
  Abu-­‐Hatoum,

Nelson
  Lai,
  Özlem
  Aslan,
  Preethy
  Sivakumar,
  Ravinder
  Gill,
  Ritu
  Mathur,
  Shihoko

Nakagawa,
  Ümit
  Aydoğmuş,
  Véronique
  Aubry,
  and
  Zuba
  Wai.
  A
  special
  thank
  you
  to

Nishant
 Upadhyay
 for
 his
 precious
 engagement,
 practical
 help
 and
 friendship
 in
 getting

this
 dissertation
 done.
 I
 am
 indebted
 also
 to
 the
 members
 of
 the
 PhD
 workshop
 for

comments
 on
 the
 dissertation
 and
 providing
 a
 sense
 of
 community:
 Abhinava
 Kumar,

Arthur
 Imperial,
 Johanna
 May
 Black,
 Roshan
 Jahangeer,
 Konstantin
 Kilibarda,
 and
 Hena

Tyyebi.
 Thank
 you
 also
 to
 my
 wonderful
 students
 in
 last
 year’s
 American
 Politics
 seminar

for
 your
 spirited
 engagement
 with
 many
 of
 the
 themes
 of
 this
 dissertation.
 I
 would
 also
 like

to
 thank
 Angelica
 Reyes
 Fraga,
 Renée
 Ferguson,
 Suzette
 Colliard
 and
 Tanya
 Ferguson
 –
 our

conversations
 continue
 to
 open
 my
 political
 imaginary
 and
 give
 me
 faith
 that
 another

world
 is
 indeed
 possible.
 Finally,
 my
 deep
 gratitude
 to
 my
 family
 for
 all
 their
 love
 and

support:
 my
 parents
 Carmen
 and
 Dieter
 Richter,
 my
 brother
 Christian,
 Oma
 Richter,
 Tante

Edith,
 grandpa
 Harold
 C.
 Nance
 and
 Tania.

  V
An
 earlier
 version
 of
 chapter
 four
 appeared
 as
 “Beyond
 the
 Erotics
 of
 Orientalism.

Lawfare,
  torture
  and
  the
  racial-­‐sexual
  grammars
  of
  legitimate
  suffering”
  in
  Security

Dialogue,
 45:1,
 February,
 2014,
 pp.
 43-­‐62.
 Parts
 of
 chapter
 five
 appeared
 first
 as
 “Empire,

Desire
 and
 Violence:
 A
 Queer
 Transnational
 Feminist
 Reading
 of
 the
 Prisoner
 ‘Abuse’
 in

Abu
 Ghraib
 and
 the
 Question
 of
 ‘Gender
 Equality’”
 in
 International
 Feminist
 Journal
 of

Politics,
 9:1
 March,
 2007,
 pp.
 38-­‐59.

  VI
TABLE
 OF
 CONTENTS

ABSTRACT
 ...............................................................................................................................................
 II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 .........................................................................................................................
 IV

TABLE
 OF
 CONTENTS
 ............................................................................................................................
 VII

INTRODUCTION
 ......................................................................................................................................
 1

GOVERNING
 THROUGH
 FREEDOM
 ......................................................................................................................
 11

BEYOND
 ORIENTALISM:
 TALKING
 SECURITY,
 MAKING
 RACE
 ......................................................................................
 13

SEX,
 (NATIONAL)
 LOVE
 AND
 FAMILY
 ...................................................................................................................
 15

RACE,
 VIOLENCE,
 BELONGING
 AND
 THE
 LAW
 ........................................................................................................
 17

THEORETICAL
 APPROACH
 AND
 METHODS
 OF
 STUDY
 ...............................................................................................
 19

OVERVIEW
 OF
 THE
 DISSERTATION
 ......................................................................................................................
 27

CHAPTER
 1:
 LIBERAL
 SECURITY
 AND
 THE
 GOVERNANCE
 OF
 LIFE
 AND
 DEATH
 IN
 THE
 U.S.
 WAR
 ON

TERROR
 .................................................................................................................................................
 31

BEYOND
 SOVEREIGNTY
 OR
 CUTTING
 OFF
 THE
 KING’S
 HEAD
 ......................................................................................
 31

THE
 RISE
 OF
 BIOPOLITICS
 AND
 THE
 ARTS
 OF
 GOVERNMENT
 ......................................................................................
 32

BEYOND
 PRACTICES
 OF
 FREEDOM.
 ON
 THE
 DARK
 UNDERBELLY
 OF
 LIBERAL
 SECURITY
 .....................................................
 43

SEX,
 BIOPOWER
 AND
 THE
 ASCENDANCY
 OF
 WHITENESS:
 WHAT’S
 QUEER
 ABOUT
 SECURITY
 STUDIES
 NOW?
 ........................
 54

CHAPTER
 2:
 THE
 RAW
 MATERIALS
 OF
 SETTLER
 IMPERIAL
 FORMATION:
 RACE,
 SEX
 AND
 ENSLAVEABILITY

FROM
 THE
 GEOPOLITICS
 OF
 INDIGENOUS
 SOVEREIGNTY
 TO
 THE
 BIOPOLITICS
 OF
 SETTLER

COLONIALISM
 .......................................................................................................................................
 63

SETTLER
 COLONIALITY
 AND
 INDIANISM
 ................................................................................................................
 65

Settler
 revolt
 and
 Independence
 ...........................................................................................................
 65

 The
 Erotics
 of
 Conquest:
 Biopolitics
 are
 Geopolitics
 ............................................................................
 70

 CHATTEL
 SLAVERY
 AND
 RACIAL
 BLACKNESS
 ..........................................................................................................
 75

Blackness
 as
 enslaveability
 ...................................................................................................................
 75

Racial
 capitalism
 and
 the
 rise
 of
 the
 prison
 system.
 From
 Jim
 Crowe
 to
 Progressivism
 .......................
 85

Overseas
 expansion
 ..............................................................................................................................
 97

CONCLUSION
 ...............................................................................................................................................
 101

CHAPTER
 3:
 BEYOND
 THE
 SEXED
 COLOUR
 LINE?
 LIBERAL
 WAR
 AND
 THE
 IMGINARY
 GEOGRAPHIES
 OF

INDIAN
 COUNTRY
 IN
 AN
 AGE
 OF
 THE
 MUSLIM/IFIED
 TARGET
 .............................................................
 105

THE
 POLITICS
 OF
 PREEMPTION
 AND
 GLOBAL
 RACE
 WAR
 ........................................................................................
 108

SAVE-­‐CIVILIZATION-­‐ITSELF
 FANTASY:
 “THE
 EVERYWHERE
 WAR”
 .............................................................................
 115

Global
 society
 must
 be
 defended
 ........................................................................................................
 115

Securing
 the
 homeland.
 Ethical
 subjects
 and
 self-­‐government
 ..........................................................
 120

Securing
 the
 liberal
 project
 of
 security:
 governance
 through
 be-­‐longing
 ...........................................
 131

 GOVERNING
 THROUGH
 EQUALITY:
 EMBEDDED
 LIBERALISM
 AND
 THE
 “RACIAL
 BREAK”
 ................................................
 134

PACIFYING
 INDIAN
 COUNTRY,
 PACIFYING
 THE
 GLOBAL
 FRONTIER:
 U.S.
 NATIONAL
 SECURITY
 MAKING
 IN
 THE
 WAR
 ON
 TERROR

OR
 “WILD
 WEST
 IN
 THE
 WILD
 EAST”
 .................................................................................................................
 138

“Wilder
 than
 the
 Wild
 West”:
 Fear
 and
 envy
 in
 Muslim/ified
 Indian
 country
 ....................................
 139

Virtuous
 war
 in
 Indian
 country
 ...........................................................................................................
 155

CONCLUSION
 ...............................................................................................................................................
 160

  VII
CHAPTER
 4:
 THE
 BIOPOLITICS
 OF
 RACIAL
 LAWFARE.
 CARCERAL
 LANDSCAPES,
 TORTURE
 AND
 THE

RACIAL-­‐SEXUAL
 GRAMMARS
 OF
 LEGITIMATE
 SUFFERING
 ...................................................................
 162

THE
 MYTH
 OF
 THE
 INSTRUMENTAL
 USE
 OF
 TORTURE
 ............................................................................................
 166

LEGALIZING
 TORTURE:
 ALL
 ROADS
 LEAD
 TO
 ABU
 GHRAIB,
 NONE
 TO
 ROME
 ................................................................
 172

BEYOND
 LEGAL
 SUBJUGATION?
 TORTURE
 MEMOS,
 BLACKNESS
 AND
 SOVEREIGNTY
 .....................................................
 182

EROTICS
 OF
 RACISM
 AND
 THE
 BIOPOLITICS
 OF
 TORTURE
 ........................................................................................
 188

CONCLUSION
 ...............................................................................................................................................
 199

CHAPTER
 5:
 BEYOND
 EQUALITY?
 WOMEN
 TORTURERS,
 LIBERAL
 WAR
 AND
 BELONGING
 .....................
 201

ABU
 GHRAIB,
 TORTURE
 AND
 THE
 IRAQ
 WAR
 .......................................................................................................
 206

SAVE-­‐CIVILIZATION-­‐ITSELF
 FANTASY
 .................................................................................................................
 209

MILITARIZED
 MASCULINITY
 AND
 THE
 EROTICS
 OF
 CONQUEST
 .................................................................................
 213

NARRATIVE
 E(RACE)SURES
 .............................................................................................................................
 221

CONCLUSION
 ...............................................................................................................................................
 240

CHAPTER
 6:
 GAY
 PATRIOT
 ACTS.
 QUEER
 INVESTMENTS
 IN
 LIBERAL
 WAR
 AND
 SECURITY
 .....................
 244

NEOLIBERAL
 GOVERNANCE,
 ETHICAL
 SUBJECTS
 AND
 AFFECTIVE
 ECONOMIES
 OF
 LIBERAL
 WAR
 .......................................
 248

WAR,
 SEX
 AND
 MARRIAGE
 ..............................................................................................................................
 250

GAY
 PATRIOT
 ACTS.
 (NATIONAL)
 LOVE,
 VIOLENCE
 AND
 BELONGING
 .........................................................................
 256

CONCLUSION
 ...............................................................................................................................................
 283

CONCLUSION
 ......................................................................................................................................
 287

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 ....................................................................................................................................
 296

  VIII
INTRODUCTION

“The
 affirmation
 of
 the
 desire
 for
 freedom
 is
 so
 inhabited
 by
 the
 forgetting
 of
 its
 conditions
 of

possibility,
 that
 every
 narrative
 articulation
 of
 freedom
 is
 haunted
 by
 its
 burial,
 by
 the

violence
 of
 forgetting”
 (Lisa
 Lowe;
 as
 cited
 in
 Eng,
 2007,
 p.
 38).

Less
 than
 three
 months
 before
 the
 historic
 repeal
 of
 the
 Defense
 of
 Marriage
 Act
 (DOMA)

removing
 the
 federal
 ban
 on
 same-­‐sex
 marriage,
 iconic
 Realist
 International
 Relations
 (IR)

scholar
 Stephen
 Walt
 published
 an
 article
 in
 Foreign
 Policy
 entitled
 “Why
 gay
 marriage
 is

good
 for
 US
 foreign
 policy”
 (2013).
 Walt,
 an
 otherwise
 staunch
 defender
 of
 Neorealism’s

narrow
 conceptualization
 of
 security
 studies
 as
 "the
 study
 of
 the
 threat,
 use,
 and
 control
 of

military
 force”
 (1991,
 p.
 212;
 emphasis
 in
 original),
 argues
 that
 Americans
 opposed
 to
 or

reluctant
 to
 back
 gay
 marriage
 “on
 the
 simple
 grounds
 of
 fairness
 …
 [should]
 consider

supporting
 it
 on
 the
 basis
 of
 national
 security
 instead”
 (Walt,
 2013,
 para.
 10).
 As
 will
 be

explored
  in
  this
  dissertation,
  rather
  than
  the
  lone
  plea
  of
  a
  “closeted”
  liberal,
  Walt’s

intervention
 is
 part
 of
 the
 post-­‐9/11
 ascendancy
 of
 a
 complex
 and
 seemingly
 contradictory

U.S.
 national
 security
 imaginary
 that
 casts
 sexual
 and
 gender
 equality
 as
 hallmarks
 of

Western
 modernity
 and
 hence
 critical
 battlefields
 in
 the
 war
 against
 the
 threat
 of
 Islamic

terrorism.

  This
  seemingly
  progressive
  shift
  in
  the
  national
  imaginary
  stands
  in
  stark

contradiction
 to
 the
 patriarchal
 and
 heteronormative
 grammar
 of
 the
 usual
 “War
 Story”

(Cooke,
 1996).
 Typically
 when
 nations
 feel
 under
 attack
 from
 an
 outside
 threat,
 women's

bodies
 and
 sexual
 freedom
 are
 among
 the
 first
 casualties
 (cf.
 Alarcon
 &
 Moallem,
 1999;

Enloe,
 2000;
 Yuval-­‐Davis,
 1997).
 In
 the
 effort
 to
 secure
 the
 “motherland,”
 the
 national

1
imaginary
 relegates
 ciswomen1
 to
 their
 “traditional”
 roles
 as
 mothers
 and
 nurturers
 while

cismen
 are
 cast
 and
 eroticized
 as
 heterosexual,
 manly
 protectors
 of
 ciswomen
 and
 children

(cf.
 Cooke,
 1996;
 Elshtain,
 1983;
 Enloe,
 1993).
 In
 this
 heteropatriarchal
 rescue
 narrative,

queers
 -­‐
 tied
 to
 the
 “discursive
 realm
 of
 the
 public
 toilet
 and
 the
 asylum”
 (Haritaworn,

2008a,
 p.
 7)
 -­‐
 are
 commonly
 cast
 as
 security
 risks
 (cf.
 Corber,
 1996,
 1997;
 Dean,
 2001;

D’Emilio,
 1983;
 Johnson,
 2009;
 Terry,
 1999).

Within
 days
 of
 the
 attacks
 of
 September
 11,
 2001,
 U.S.
 official
 policy
 discourses
 and

popular
  cultural
  productions
  articulated
  such
  a
  heteropatriarchal
  rescue
  fantasy.
  The

hegemonic
 security
 discourse
 on
 defending
 the
 American
 home
 and
 family
 from
 Islamic

terrorism
  cloaked
  the
  nation
  in
  familial
  language,
  casting
  the
  state
  and
  its
  branches

responsible
 for
 intelligence,
 military,
 law
 enforcement
 and
 fire
 rescue
 as
 manly
 father

figures
 that
 are
 there
 to
 rescue
 feminized
 “women
 and
 children”
 from
 the
 external
 racial-­‐
sexual
 threat,
 and
 with
 the
 onset
 of
 the
 U.S.
 attack
 on
 Afghanistan,
 portrayed
 Afghan

women
 in
 need
 of
 rescue
 from
 “their”
 menfolk
 (cf.
 Abu-­‐Lughod,
 2002;
 Ahmad,
 2002;

Bacchetta
 et
 al.,
 2002;
 Bhattacharya,
 2008;
 Brittain,
 2007;
 Faludi,
 2007;
 Hawthorne
 &

Winter,
 2002;
 Hunt
 &
 Rygiel,
 2007;
 Nayak,
 2006;
 Shepherd,
 2006;
 Young,
 2003;
 Zine,

2007).
 Concurrent
 to
 the
 War
 on
 Terror,
 the
 Bush
 administration
 launched
 a
 “war
 on

1
 Cisgendered
 or
 non-­‐trans*
 indicates
 that
 someone’s
 assigned
 gender
 at
 birth
 matches
 the
 gender

they
 personally
 identify
 with
 under
 the
 hegemonic
 (not
 only)
 American
 sex-­‐gender
 imaginary.
 The

use
 of
 “cis”
 and
 “non-­‐trans*”
 seeks
 to
 draw
 attention
 to
 the
 unmarked
 gender
 norm
 against
 which

trans*
 people
 are
 identified
 under
 this
 binary
 sex-­‐gender
 imaginary.
 The
 asterisk
 indicates
 that

trans*
  is
  an
  umbrella
  term
  that
  seeks
  to
  include
  the
  wide
  range
  of
  non-­‐cisgendered
  gender

expressions,
  including
  non-­‐binary
  and
  Two-­‐Spirit.
  Two-­‐Spirit
  is
  a
  recently
  developed,
  English

language
 term
 used
 by
 some
 indigenous
 people
 whose
 self-­‐identified
 gender
 expression
 is
 gender

variant
 (Driskill,
 2010,
 pp.
 72-­‐73).
 This
 study
 for
 the
 most
 part
 did
 not
 have
 access
 to
 people’s
 self-­‐
identifications
 and
 so
 my
 use
 of
 cisgendered
 and
 non-­‐trans*
 for
 the
 most
 part
 is
 limited
 to
 rendering

visible
 the
 unmarked
 gender
 norms
 underwriting
 the
 operations
 of
 the
 hegemonic
 U.S.
 national

security
 imaginary.

2