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Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror

Angharad Closs Stephens Orcid Logo

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Volume: 29, Issue: 2, Pages: 254 - 267

Swansea University Author: Angharad Closs Stephens Orcid Logo

DOI (Published version): 10.1068/d6109

Abstract

This paper considers the question of what it might mean to resist the ‘imaginative geographies’ of the War on Terror through a reading of the bestselling novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Reading this novel against the claim that we are now at the ‘end’ of the War on Terror, the pa...

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Published in: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Published: 2011
Online Access: http://epd.sagepub.com/content/29/2/254.abstract
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa28134
first_indexed 2016-05-21T01:19:24Z
last_indexed 2018-02-09T05:11:56Z
id cronfa28134
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spelling 2016-08-10T13:16:38.7585859 v2 28134 2016-05-20 Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror b949e66c7338fbd3f328eaf5b3f944a1 0000-0002-7765-7276 Angharad Closs Stephens Angharad Closs Stephens true false 2016-05-20 BGPS This paper considers the question of what it might mean to resist the ‘imaginative geographies’ of the War on Terror through a reading of the bestselling novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Reading this novel against the claim that we are now at the ‘end’ of the War on Terror, the paper engages with how we might move beyond what Derek Gregory described as the split geographies of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘civilization’ and ‘barbarism’ that represent the violent return of the colonial past. The paper argues that critical attempts at resisting the imaginative geographies of the War on Terror, such as we find in this particular novel, often assume and reproduce an understanding of time as linear and progressive, an idea of time which Gregory points out makes these imaginative geographies possible. The paper argues that this becomes problematic when critical interventions risk reproducing the very understanding of political life that they set out to confront. Whilst it is an important political move to reveal the imaginative geographies at work in the War on Terror, the paper suggests that this approach also risks operating by confirming to a critical readership that which it already knows. We are too easily led to the conclusion that what is needed is better representations of ‘others’ in the world, as just as enlightened, cultured, reasoned as ‘us’. The contention of this paper is that such critical responses fail to do anything to disrupt or trouble the split geographies of ‘us’ and ‘them’; rather, they keep them firmly in place and entrench them further. The paper argues that we need to revisit and unsettle the concept of imagination at work in the idea of ‘imaginative geographies’ to explore a way of thinking coexistence in world politics that cannot be understood within a unifying temporal framework. It is suggested that, despite the closures identified in this novel, postcolonial urban literatures also provide many openings for thinking the “possibility that the field of the political is constitutively not singular” [Chakrabarty, 2000, Provincializing Europe (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) page 148]. Journal Article Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 29 2 254 267 30 4 2011 2011-04-30 10.1068/d6109 http://epd.sagepub.com/content/29/2/254.abstract COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University 2016-08-10T13:16:38.7585859 2016-05-20T12:18:09.3726267 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography Angharad Closs Stephens 0000-0002-7765-7276 1 0028134-10082016131557.pdf BeyondImaginativeGeographiesFinal18June2010.pdf 2016-08-10T13:15:57.4800000 Output 343273 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2016-08-10T00:00:00.0000000 true
title Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
spellingShingle Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
Angharad Closs Stephens
title_short Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
title_full Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
title_fullStr Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
title_full_unstemmed Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
title_sort Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Critique, cooptation and imagination in the aftermath of the War on Terror
author_id_str_mv b949e66c7338fbd3f328eaf5b3f944a1
author_id_fullname_str_mv b949e66c7338fbd3f328eaf5b3f944a1_***_Angharad Closs Stephens
author Angharad Closs Stephens
author2 Angharad Closs Stephens
format Journal article
container_title Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
container_volume 29
container_issue 2
container_start_page 254
publishDate 2011
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.1068/d6109
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
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department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
url http://epd.sagepub.com/content/29/2/254.abstract
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description This paper considers the question of what it might mean to resist the ‘imaginative geographies’ of the War on Terror through a reading of the bestselling novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Reading this novel against the claim that we are now at the ‘end’ of the War on Terror, the paper engages with how we might move beyond what Derek Gregory described as the split geographies of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘civilization’ and ‘barbarism’ that represent the violent return of the colonial past. The paper argues that critical attempts at resisting the imaginative geographies of the War on Terror, such as we find in this particular novel, often assume and reproduce an understanding of time as linear and progressive, an idea of time which Gregory points out makes these imaginative geographies possible. The paper argues that this becomes problematic when critical interventions risk reproducing the very understanding of political life that they set out to confront. Whilst it is an important political move to reveal the imaginative geographies at work in the War on Terror, the paper suggests that this approach also risks operating by confirming to a critical readership that which it already knows. We are too easily led to the conclusion that what is needed is better representations of ‘others’ in the world, as just as enlightened, cultured, reasoned as ‘us’. The contention of this paper is that such critical responses fail to do anything to disrupt or trouble the split geographies of ‘us’ and ‘them’; rather, they keep them firmly in place and entrench them further. The paper argues that we need to revisit and unsettle the concept of imagination at work in the idea of ‘imaginative geographies’ to explore a way of thinking coexistence in world politics that cannot be understood within a unifying temporal framework. It is suggested that, despite the closures identified in this novel, postcolonial urban literatures also provide many openings for thinking the “possibility that the field of the political is constitutively not singular” [Chakrabarty, 2000, Provincializing Europe (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) page 148].
published_date 2011-04-30T13:01:04Z
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