Flagging Patriotism

Ella Shohat is Professor in the Departments of Art and Public Policy and Middle Eastern Studies at New York University. She is co-author, with Robert Stam, ofUnthinking Eurocentrism, also published by Routledge. Her other books include Talking Visions: Multiculturalism ina Transnational Age, Israeli Cinema: East/West and thePolitics of Representation, and Taboo Memories, Dasporic Voices.Robert Stam is University Professor of Cinema Studies at New York University. He is co-author, with Ella Shohat, of Unthinking Eurocentrism, and, with Robert Burgoyne and Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, of New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics, both published by Routledge. His many other books include Film Theory: AnIntroduction, A Companion to Film Theory, Film andTheory: An Anthology, and Tropical Multiculturalism: AComparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema andCulture.

• Preface: Love, Hate, and the Nation-StateI. On Narcissism and ExceptionalismPatriotism: Myths that Bind and BlindThe Angels, and Devils, of HistoryU.S. Exceptionalism: The City on the HillFrench Exceptionalism: Grandeur and la Mission CivilisatriceExceptionalism Light: God is Brazilian II. Variations on an Anti-American ThemeSibling Rivalries: Anti-Americanism in FranceL’Obsession: Anti-Americanism after 9/11Imaginary Tribes: the Anglo-SaxonsBrazil and the Collosus to the NorthThe View from the SouthFrom Francophilia to FrancophobiaAnti-French Hysteria and the American RightAnti-Semitism, Misogny, and the NeoConsIII. Discrepant Histories of CitizenshipNew Debates about Old RevolutionsIn the Name of God and the RepublicFoundational ContradictionsCitizenship in BrazilConstitutions and their DiscontentsThe Crisis of American Freedom Disjunctive DemocracyIV. Political Sense, Cultural NonsenseReturn to Exceptionalism: Socialism in AmericaThe Protestant Ethic/EthnicMisreading American ReligionAnglo-Saxons: the SequelLes Mains Salles, or Dirty HandsSubmerged Narcissisms Anti-Americanism: Dumb and SmartImrika Watani: An Arab-American Dirge for 9/11V. Contemporary Politics and the Crisis of DemocracyPricks and WimpsThe Fine Art of LyingFear, Catharsis and the Daily ShowSodomy, Sadism, and the Christian RightPatriotic BlackmailThe Pentagonization of PatriotismThe Demise of ReciprocityThe Illiberal MediaThe Wages of ExceptionalismVI. None Dare Call it PatriotismThe Contradictions of the RightWrestling with PatriotismWhy The Superpatriots are Not Patriots Patriotic FictionsPatriotism and the Pursuit of HappinessConclusionNotesIndex

"I find Shohat/Stam's work brilliant, original, exhilarating."—Edward Said"Does patriotic love of one's country have to lead to nationalist narcissism? Or can we imagine a complex, transnational, multi-voiced patriotism? Putting right-wing pseudo-patriots on notice, Stam and Shohat weave past and present voices from Brazil, France, and the United States together into a pathbreaking vision of a vibrant, critical patriotism."—Jodi Dean, author of Zizek's Politics"I am grateful for this book. Now is the time to bracket the daily business of disciplinary work and to attend to a monstrous war in Iraq, and to the Empire that doesn't seem to stop and reflect on the effects of disastrous patriotism. Stam and Shohat combine a shared flair for interdisciplinary analysis and also complementary perspectives on two hemispheres. Their book is a compelling account that calls for re-framing legislation and loyalties."—Doris Sommer, Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard University"‘They hate us because they hate our freedoms,’ George Bush keeps telling us. But if you're becoming a little suspicious that Bush doth protest too much, especially as his own administration has done more than any terrorists to take away ‘our freedoms,’ this is the book for you. A triangulation in the best sense between French and Brazilian and American exceptionalist skews on the United States, this book bores into the conundra of Anti-Americanism and American patriotism. It holds France and Brazil up as a mirror to the self-conceit of American officialdom. Comprehending anti-Americanism while rejecting it as decisively as it rejects American exceptionalism, Flagging Patriotism points toward a new, transnational patriotism. Easily the most thoughtful book on the subject, it packs accessible analysis alongside gut common sense and is excitingly and exquisitely written."—Neil Smith, author of The Endgame of Globalization