Imperial Humanitarianism – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Social Imperialism and New Victorian Identity Politics

Social Imperialism? New Victorianism’s Domestic Moral Code and the Political Economy of Identity Politics “The nation-state in its imperialist guise was the inescapable context within which all political action necessarily took place: it determined the range of possibilities against which the left as much as the right were compelled to define their positions”. (Eley, 1976, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Humanitarian Ownership

Hillary Clinton: Dibs on Women, Children, and Dead People Listening to Hillary Clinton debate Bernie Sanders on April 14, 2016, convinced me of one thing: she owns women, children, and dead people. The first time Hillary Clinton mentioned “children” in the debate it was with notable overemphasis—children! Children—I said it first, I said it loudest. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

About Those Good Intentions

The following, the final in our series of extracts, comes from my chapter, “Imperial Abduction Lore and Humanitarian Seduction,” which serves as the introduction to Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 1-34. This section was primarily addressed to students as readers, and any constructive feedback would be appreciated. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The US Military as Great Chief, Father, Doctor, and Babysitter

The following is an extract from my chapter, “A Flickr of Militarization: Photographic Regulation, Symbolic Consecration, and the Strategic Communication of ‘Good Intentions’,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 185-279: In 2009 the Department of the Army produced a field manual titled, “Visual Information Operations” (US […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Visual Imperium

The following is an extract from my chapter, “A Flickr of Militarization: Photographic Regulation, Symbolic Consecration, and the Strategic Communication of ‘Good Intentions’,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 185-279: One of the possibly more fruitful areas of inquiry to come out of studies of contemporary […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Terrorist, the Tyrant and the Thug

The following is a series of extracts from John Manicom’s chapter, “The Terrorist, the Tyrant and the Thug: ‘Anti-Anti-Imperialism’ in American Media and Policy,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 149-166: Overview: John Manicom’s chapter is a powerful examination of the discursive and narrative practices of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Queers of War: Homonationalism, Militarism, and Imperialism

The following are a series of extracts from Hilary King’s chapter, “Queers of War: Normalizing Lesbians and Gays in the US War Machine,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 89-101: Overview: Hilary King’s chapter is a very welcome addition to the subject of gender, sexuality, and […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Syndrome of Humanitarian Interventionism

The following is an extract from my chapter, “Imperial Abduction Lore and Humanitarian Seduction,” which serves as the introduction to Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 1-34: The dominant ideology of US-led globalization since September 11, 2001, is one that configures society as existing in a state of […]