Terror from Above: New Technologies for an American Tradition

• In Event: American Culture: Crime, Capitalism, and Imperialism

Abstract

How is language tactically drawn upon by the United States to legitimize state violence? How are political discourses also the essential componentry of warfare? This article begins this complex examination by looking at the intertwined, discursive, and imperceptible narratives that surround the United States’ covert drone war. And it does so by tracing the genealogical histories of assassination, counter-terrorism, and torture. What emerges is a story of constrained hegemony and the curtailment of life itself. Through these discussions, this article adds to the literature through its consideration of continually evolving modalities of sovereign state violence.

Author

• Andrew Roesch-Knapp, University of California, Irvine