Occupation: Colonial Present and Past

Many critics of independent, decolonized nation-states have abandoned the term 147post-colonialism,148 insisting that 147third world148 polities are none of the above: not independent, decolonized, national, or statist. 147Globalization148 and the 147war on terror148 have advanced the view of these and earlier anti-imperial activists and writers that the de-colonization breeds re-colonization. Once portrayed as universalizing and particularizing poles, 147globalization148 and the 147war on terror148 now appear as stages in solidifying the new imperial global order. In the putative neo-imperial 147dispensation,148 the word country feels quaint, archaic, or nostalgic 150 but occupation is everywhere. For this course occupation will organize our critical inquiry into familiar distinctions among state, empire, and invasion. We will examine institutional, ideological, geographical, and economic commonalities and differences among state-building, imperialism, and our own era 150 what I now call the Global Exception. The course is dedicated to Eqbal Ahmad, whose writings we will consider. Discussions of extensive reading assignments will be supplemented with lectures. MCP, PRJ, PRS, REA, WRI