Rightlessness

Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Civil Rights, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Rightlessness by A. Naomi Paik, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: A. Naomi Paik ISBN: 9781469626321
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: January 8, 2016
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: A. Naomi Paik
ISBN: 9781469626321
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: January 8, 2016
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

In this bold book, A. Naomi Paik grapples with the history of U.S. prison camps that have confined people outside the boundaries of legal and civil rights. Removed from the social and political communities that would guarantee fundamental legal protections, these detainees are effectively rightless, stripped of the right even to have rights. Rightless people thus expose an essential paradox: while the United States purports to champion inalienable rights at home and internationally, it has built its global power in part by creating a regime of imprisonment that places certain populations perceived as threats beyond rights. The United States' status as the guardian of rights coincides with, indeed depends on, its creation of rightlessness.

Yet rightless people are not silent. Drawing from an expansive testimonial archive of legal proceedings, truth commission records, poetry, and experimental video, Paik shows how rightless people use their imprisonment to protest U.S. state violence. She examines demands for redress by Japanese Americans interned during World War II, testimonies of HIV-positive Haitian refugees detained at Guantanamo in the early 1990s, and appeals by Guantanamo's enemy combatants from the War on Terror. In doing so, she reveals a powerful ongoing contest over the nature and meaning of the law, over civil liberties and global human rights, and over the power of the state in people's lives.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this bold book, A. Naomi Paik grapples with the history of U.S. prison camps that have confined people outside the boundaries of legal and civil rights. Removed from the social and political communities that would guarantee fundamental legal protections, these detainees are effectively rightless, stripped of the right even to have rights. Rightless people thus expose an essential paradox: while the United States purports to champion inalienable rights at home and internationally, it has built its global power in part by creating a regime of imprisonment that places certain populations perceived as threats beyond rights. The United States' status as the guardian of rights coincides with, indeed depends on, its creation of rightlessness.

Yet rightless people are not silent. Drawing from an expansive testimonial archive of legal proceedings, truth commission records, poetry, and experimental video, Paik shows how rightless people use their imprisonment to protest U.S. state violence. She examines demands for redress by Japanese Americans interned during World War II, testimonies of HIV-positive Haitian refugees detained at Guantanamo in the early 1990s, and appeals by Guantanamo's enemy combatants from the War on Terror. In doing so, she reveals a powerful ongoing contest over the nature and meaning of the law, over civil liberties and global human rights, and over the power of the state in people's lives.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Confederate Minds by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Toward an Intellectual History of Women by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Southeastern Geographer by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Sweet Tea by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book The Company They Kept by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book The United States in Puerto Rico, 1898-1900 by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Jack London, Enhanced Ebook by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Mexican Village by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Religion as Critique by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Sold American by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Sweet Potatoes by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book The Trials of Laura Fair by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book The Girl on the Magazine Cover by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book The Alabama and the Kearsarge by A. Naomi Paik
Cover of the book Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Politics of Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America by A. Naomi Paik
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy