Suspended Apocalypse

272 Pages·2010·0.88 MB·English

by  Dylan Rodriguez

SUSPENDED
APOCALYPSE
Also by Dylan Rodríguez
Forced Passages:
Imprisoned Radical Intellectuals
and the U.S. Prison Regime
SUSPENDED
APOCALYPSE
White Supremacy, Genocide,
and the Filipino Condition
DYLAN RODRÍGUEZ
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
Anearlyversionofchapter3waspublishedas“‘AMillionDeaths?’:Genocideand
theSubjectofFilipinoAmericanStudies,”inPositivelyNoFilipinosAllowed:Build-
ingCommunitiesandDiscourse,ed.AntonioT.TiongsonJr.,EdgardoV.Gutierrez,
andRicardoV.Gutierrez(Philadelphia:TempleUniversityPress,2006),145–61.
Copyright2010bytheRegentsoftheUniversityofMinnesota
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PublishedbytheUniversityofMinnesotaPress
111ThirdAvenueSouth,Suite290
Minneapolis,MN55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Rodriguez,Dylan.
Suspendedapocalypse:whitesupremacy,genocide,andtheFilipinocondition/
DylanRodriguez.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8166-5349-2(hc:alk.paper)–ISBN978-0-8166-5350-8(pb:alk.
paper)
1.UnitedStates–Relations–Philippines. 2.Philippines–Relations–United
States. 3.Genocide–Philippines. 4.Racism–UnitedStates. 5.Filipinos–Social
conditions. I.Title.
E183.8.P5R642010
305.800973–dc22
2009033093
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
TheUniversityofMinnesotaisanequal-opportunityeducatorandemployer.
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1. Filipino American Communion
Cultural Alienation and the Conditions of Community 1
2. Deformed Nationalism and Arrested Raciality
The Grammar and Problematic of a “Filipino
American” Common Sense 33
3. “Its Very Familiarity Disguises Its Horror”
White Supremacy, Genocide, and the Statecraft of
Pacifica Americana 98
4. Suspended Apocalypse
Toward a Racial Analytic of the Filipino
Condition 150
5. “Death Was Swiftly Running after Us”
Disaster, Evil, and Radical Possibility 190
Notes 219
Index 247
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Acknowledgments
This book has been shaped by multiple political influences and
interventions,themostimportantofwhichhavebeenthepeople
whohavechallenged,nourished,andproductivelydisruptedmy
thinking on the historical present of white supremacist geno-
cide and its layered production of the Filipino (and thus my
own) condition. Of course, these influences and interventions
areunquantifiableandareasoftenaccidentalandunexpectedas
they are deliberate and intentional. I am humbled by the simple
factthatanimmediateandextendedfamily,aswellasacherished
political–intellectualcommunity,hasunconditionallybackedme
inmyefforttoparticipateinaknowledgeproductionthatengages
the historical state of emergency in which we are collectively
located. The work of identifying and radically confronting the
politicalstructuresthatcomposeusaspeoplesubjectedto—and
who are thus also the troubled subjects of—the ongoing U.S.
nation-buildingprojectisnotanindividuallabor,andsoIhope
thatanythingdecentandusefulinthesepageswillbetakenasa
reflection of everything beautiful and inspired about the people
I list here.
There are people whose impact on this book has been fun-
damental. Rick Bonus, Oscar Campomanes, Jodi Kim, Martin
Manalansan, Jared Sexton, Andy Smith, and Tony (Kuya Ton)
Tiongson Jr. provided substantive critique, insight, and encour-
agement of different aspects of the project; they have imprinted
mythinkingincrucialways.IamespeciallyindebtedtoKuyaTon
(andhiscoeditorsEdGutierrezandRickGutierrez)forsoliciting
and publishing an early version of chapter 3 in the landmark
vii
viii / Acknowledgments
anthology Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Commu-
nities and Discourse, published by Temple University Press in
2006.VorrisNunley,MichelleRaheja,AmaliaCabezas,Tammy
Ho, Keith Harris, Traise Yamamoto, Erica Edwards, Mariam
Lam, Jonathan Walton, Alessandro Fornazzari, Freya Schiwy,
andothers,friendswithwhomIshareadayjobattheUniversity
ofCalifornia,Riverside,haveformedanintellectualandpolitical
community that has kept me alive and, in important moments,
thriving. My departmental colleagues Victoria Bomberry, Jayna
Brown, Anthony Macias, Jennifer Najera, and Robert Perez,
along with the aforementioned Jodi Kim, directly and indirectly
facilitated my progress and are often the people on whom I rely
for the most immediate and urgent institutional support. I am
thankful for their presence in the Department of Ethnic Studies.
Ioftenclaimcertainfriendsandscholarsasakindofextended
political,intellectual,andaffectivefamily,andmycentralhopeis
thatthe“familial”bondsweformareradical,liberationist,and
creative rather than conventional or parochial. Keith Camacho,
RuthieGilmore,JolieChea,JoãoCostaVargas,MarthaEscobar,
RobertoLabrada,GabbyOcon,AdrienneHurley,DioMendoza
(the brilliant artist), Viet Mike Ngo (who, after spending two
decades in prison, must be released from his California cage),
RamanPrasad,VianeyRamirez,SormehAyari,RandallWilliams,
CraigGilmore,andothershavesharedmanyameal,laughedat
toomanyjokes,andprovidedmethebackbonetomovearound
intheworldasIdo.DavidMartinez,AmarRaheja,andAlfredo
Cruzhavebeengreatinterlocutorsandfishingpartners,andthe
mental clarity I attain in my time with them has been essential
to the completion of this book.
I am grateful to Richard Morrison and Adam Brunner at the
University of Minnesota Press for their patience, attention, and
obvious commitment to this book. I cannot imagine a better
publishingandeditorialexperiencethantheoneIhavehadwith
them, and it is no accident that my first two books have been
published through the University of Minnesota Press.
Acknowledgments / ix
I would not have had either the courage or the capacity to
complete this book without the guidance, unflinching support,
andmentorshipofAngelaDavis,ArifDirlik,AveryGordon,Joy
James, Lisa Lowe, Gary Okihiro, David Pellow, Laura Pulido,
Beth Richie, David Roediger, Phil Scraton, Neferti Tadiar, and
RuthieGilmore.JamesTurner’sinfluenceonmythinkingisper-
manent, as is the model of intellectual seriousness embodied by
ShelleyWong.SteveCullenberg,thelateEmoryElliott,Katherine
Kinney,andTobyMillerhaveliterallykeptmeatU.C.Riverside.
Lucy Burns, Jody Blanco, Lisa Yoneyama, Tak Fujitani, Denise
Ferreira da Silva, Lisa Park, David Leonard, and Jim Lee gener-
ouslylistenedtomyideas,andeachconvincedmethatmylabor
is part of something larger, collective, and historical.
Imustgivespecialthankstotheorganizersofandparticipants
intwounmatchedpolitical–intellectualandscholaractivistevents
duringthespringof2008:“PhilippinePalimpsests:FilipinoStud-
ies in the Twenty-first Century” at the University of Illinois
and “From the Plantation to the Prison: Imprisonment and U.S.
Culture” at Yale University. Augusto Espiritu, Lisa Cacho, and
Martin Manalansan organized “Philippine Palimpsests,” which
was a historically unprecedented gathering of U.S.-based Fili-
pino scholars. Reynaldo Ileto, Kimberly Alidio, Richard Chu,
Julian Go, Linda Maram, Nerissa Balce, Victor Bascara, Fran-
cisco(Kiko)Benitez,JodyBlanco,LucyBurns,DeniseCruz,Kale
Fajardo,TheoGonzalves,VictorMendoza,MartinJosephPonce,
JeffreySantaAna,SaritaSee,AlanIsaac,RickBaldoz,AnnaGue-
varra,EmilyIgnacio,DinaMaramba,RobynRodriguez,Neferti
Tadiar,Benito(Sunny)Vergara,RickBonus,GenevieveClutario,
and Constancio Arnaldo produced a rich, dense, and catalyz-
ing body of dialogue. The work of David Stein, Sarah Haley,
Naomi Paik, and others involved with Yale’s Marxist and Cul-
turalTheoryWorkingGroupresultedinmyinvitationto“From
the Plantation to the Prison,” and their thoughtful responses
to chapter 5 of this book were both affirming and enlighten-
ing. Fellow panelists Ruthie Gilmore and Colin Dayan, along