Examines the contradictory cultural representations of the US intervention in Afghanistan that help to justify an imperial foreign policy. An indictment of US policy, Bose demonstrates that contemporary imperialism operates on an ideologically diverse cultural terrain to enlist support for the war across the political spectrum.

PURNIMA BOSE is associate professor of English and international studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, and also serves as chairperson of the international studies department. Her publications include Organizing Empire: Individualism, Collective Agency & India and co-edited volumes with Laura E. Lyons: Cultural Critique and the Global Corporation and a special issue of Biography on "Corporate Personhood."
 

Contents

Acronyms ix

Introduction:

Intervention Narratives and Geopolitical Fetishism

1 The Premature-Withdrawal Narrative

Hegemonic Masculinities and the Liberal Humanist Subject

2 The Capitalist-Rescue Narrative

Afghan Women and Micro-Entrepreneurship

3 The Canine-Rescue Narrative

and Post-Humanist Humanitarianism

4 The Retributive-Justice Narrative

Osama bin Laden as Simulacra

Postscript: Three Presidents, One Policy

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index