Intervention Narratives

PURNIMA BOSE is associate professor of English and international studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, and also serves as chairperson of the international studies department. Her publications include Organizing Empire: Individualism, Collective Agency & India and co-edited volumes with Laura E. Lyons: Cultural Critique and the Global Corporation and a special issue of Biography on "Corporate Personhood."

• ContentsAcronyms ixIntroduction:Intervention Narratives and Geopolitical Fetishism1 The Premature-Withdrawal NarrativeHegemonic Masculinities and the Liberal Humanist Subject2 The Capitalist-Rescue NarrativeAfghan Women and Micro-Entrepreneurship3 The Canine-Rescue Narrativeand Post-Humanist Humanitarianism4 The Retributive-Justice NarrativeOsama bin Laden as SimulacraPostscript: Three Presidents, One PolicyAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

"At a time when US hegemony is being challenged and redefined, narratives about Afghanistan - combining the threats of terrorism with the attractions of the region's economic resources - are being used to underscore American exceptionalism and perceptions of national identity.  Bose's astute book reveals the underbelly of these 'mock narratives' for what they are: stories that the US tells about itself, both internally and externally, to substitute affective relations for political analysis in the narrative that has become 'Afghanistan.'"— Susan Jeffords, author of Hard Bodies"Intervention Narratives is like a bright light switched on suddenly in the mind of those uneasy about temporizing in a world of perpetual war. Instead of probing stories about empire, Bose dismantles empire's own – the narrative "soft weapons" concocted by strategists of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.  In this beautifully factual, honest, and theoretically astute book – roving from canine rescue tales to premature withdrawal fantasies – she upends the usual meaning of posthumanism, affect, and post-truth by inserting them into the dark arenas of contemporary geopolitics."— Timothy Brennan, author of Borrowed Light"Campaign for the American Reader: Pg. 99: Purnima Bose's "Intervention Narratives"https://americareads.blogspot.com/2020/01/pg-99-purnima-boses-intervention.html— Campaign for the American Reader"The Page 99 Test: Purnima Bose's "Intervention Narratives"https://page99test.blogspot.com/2020/01/purnima-boses-intervention-narratives.html— The Page 99 Test"Intervention Narratives provides theoretical underpinning to explicate the narratives Bose analyzes, and Bose also offers a comprehensive thesis about what makes them persuasive, compulsively repeated, and ultimately harmful."— Time Now"Bose's book marks one of the first that actually breaks down the assumptions of the abundance of war literature that has been written about Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. In effect, Bose takes on the knowledge–industrial complex that exists around Afghanistan, showing us, sometimes line by line, where the discursive violence lies, and how it sets the stage for actual violence."— Helena Zeweri, Interentions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies"Intervention Narratives is like a bright light switched on suddenly in the mind of those uneasy about temporizing in a world of perpetual war. Instead of probing stories about empire, Bose dismantles empire's own – the narrative "soft weapons" concocted by strategists of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.  In this beautifully factual, honest, and theoretically astute book – roving from canine rescue tales to premature withdrawal fantasies – she upends the usual meaning of posthumanism, affect, and post-truth by inserting them into the dark arenas of contemporary geopolitics."— Timothy Brennan, author of Borrowed Light"Campaign for the American Reader: Pg. 99: Purnima Bose's "Intervention Narratives"https://americareads.blogspot.com/2020/01/pg-99-purnima-boses-intervention.html— Campaign for the American Reader"The Page 99 Test: Purnima Bose's "Intervention Narratives"https://page99test.blogspot.com/2020/01/purnima-boses-intervention-narratives.html— The Page 99 Test"At a time when US hegemony is being challenged and redefined, narratives about Afghanistan - combining the threats of terrorism with the attractions of the region's economic resources - are being used to underscore American exceptionalism and perceptions of national identity.  Bose's astute book reveals the underbelly of these 'mock narratives' for what they are: stories that the US tells about itself, both internally and externally, to substitute affective relations for political analysis in the narrative that has become 'Afghanistan.'"— Susan Jeffords, author of Hard Bodies"Bose's book marks one of the first that actually breaks down the assumptions of the abundance of war literature that has been written about Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. In effect, Bose takes on the knowledge–industrial complex that exists around Afghanistan, showing us, sometimes line by line, where the discursive violence lies, and how it sets the stage for actual violence."— Helena Zeweri, Interentions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies"Intervention Narratives provides theoretical underpinning to explicate the narratives Bose analyzes, and Bose also offers a comprehensive thesis about what makes them persuasive, compulsively repeated, and ultimately harmful."— Time Now