ABSTRACT

This book critically analyzes the global hegemony of the United States – a hegemony whose innovative aspect consists in articulating postcoloniality to imperial control – in relation to knowledge and knowledge production.

Through targeted case studies on the historical relationship between regional areas and the United States, the authors explore possibilities and obstacles to epistemic decolonization. By highlighting the connection between the control of work and the control of communication that has been at the core of the colonial regimes of accumulation (‘classic colonialism’), they present an entirely new form of disciplinary practice, not based on the equation of evolution and knowledge. An extensive introduction outlines the historical genealogy of Pax Americana epistemic hegemony, while individual chapters examine the implications for different regions of the world and different domains of activity, including visual culture, economy, migration, the arts, and translation.

This interdisciplinary collection will appeal to students and scholars in many fields, including Asian studies, American studies, postcolonialism, and political theory.

chapter 1|42 pages

Introduction

Epistemic Decolonization during the New Cold War

chapter 2|46 pages

Area Studies and Civilizational Transference

Epistemic Decolonization at the End of Pax Americana

chapter 3|23 pages

The Third Nomos of the Earth

The Decline of Western Hegemony and the Continuity of Capitalism

chapter 4|23 pages

Exploring the Landscapes of Extraction

Colonial Continuities, Postcolonial Assemblages of Power, Anti-colonial Struggles

chapter 6|18 pages

Feeling Freedom

Japanese and American Wartime Films on the Liberation of the Philippines, 1943–45

chapter 7|26 pages

What Comes after “Area”?

The Nomos of the Modern in Times of Crisis

chapter 9|16 pages

Between Studium and Punctum

Tomatsu Shomei and Nakahira Takuma between “Japan” and “Okinawa” *