Imperialistic Ideology and the Construction of Agamben's State of Exception in the Philippine-American War

• In Event: Case Studies in Ideological Criticism and Government

Abstract

This essay advances the argument the the imperialistic ideology of the U.S. led to the dehumanization of the Filipinos during the Philippine-American War. This process enabled the Filipino's to be concentrated into states of exceptions which Italian philopher Giorgio Agamben refers to as "camps." This essay explores Agamben's notion of a state of exception and argues that inherently this concept is rhetorical in nature because it is developed through discourse in states of emergency.

Author

• James Campbell Bunker, University of Utah