“Theorizing Special Territorial Status and Extraterritoriality”

Greg Hainge FAHA Announcement
Subject Fields
Anthropology, Diplomacy and International Relations, Philosophy, Political History / Studies, Political Science

Call for proposals for a special issue of Culture, Theory and Critique :
“Theorizing Special Territorial Status and Extraterritoriality”
Edited by: Zachary T. Androus (Florence Ethnographic Field School), Magdalena
Stawkowski (Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina) and Robert Kopack
(Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto)
We are seeking article proposals for a planned special issue of the journal Culture, Theory
and Critique. We aim to explore “extraterritoriality” beyond its traditional juridico-legal
domain by focusing on special territorial designations in ways that reconsider normative ideas
about state spaces, economics, and social practices. Conventionally, extraterritoriality refers
either to the status of being exempt from the laws of the territory in which one is physically
present, as in the cases of certain military or diplomatic installations and personnel, or to a
government extending the reach of its laws beyond its own borders, as in the cases of
cybercrime, terrorism, and drug trafficking (Colangelo 2013; Gann 1987). This is consistent
with the premise that territorially-based sovereign states are the basic, fundamental units of
the international political world system. Yet, while they are powerful, even dominant, forces
in global institutions of governance, the world is also replete with cases that defy the
presumed logic of territorial state sovereignty. Such exceptional forms of political, legal, and
existential status frequently index colonial, postcolonial, and neocolonial relations, in
addition to military, economic, and geopolitical interests (Agamben 1998; Brown 2018;
Ferguson 1994; Fessel 2012; Hecht 2011; Kopack 2019; Painter 2010; Vogel and
Raeymaekers 2016; Watts and Peluso 2001).
The articles collected in this volume will ask how these conventional understanding of
extraterritoriality can be expanded to account for the range of protectorates, realms,
dominions, and overseas territories; self-governing autonomies, reservations, reserves, and
lands held in trust; free-trade zones, export processing zones, and exclusive economic zones;
parks, monuments, memorials, and heritage sites; military installations, no-fly zones, and
occupied or otherwise contested areas. We invite theoretically innovative contributions based
on original research that push our understanding of the relationships between territory,
autonomy, and governance during the era of late capitalist neoliberalism by expanding the
traditional concept of extraterritoriality to address special territorial designations. We
encourage submissions that challenge conventional understandings of state power through
progressive and unorthodox approaches that are grounded in original research and richly
informed by theoretical sophistication. Proposals addressing any region of the world as well
as innovative perspectives that highlight the complex intersections of state and non-state
actors with multiple peoples, places, and polities, are welcome. Submissions from members
of historically excluded or underrepresented groups are especially encouraged.
Please submit an abstract of 150 words by Friday October 25, 2019 to
prof.androus@florencefieldschool.com. Abstracts will be reviewed by the special issue
editors and notifications will be sent by November 15, 2019.
Full manuscripts (7000 words) will be due to the special issue editors by February 28, 2020
for preliminary review. Manuscripts will be submitted to Culture, Theory and Critique for
double-blind peer review on June 1, 2020, with final revisions due by September 1, 2020 and
publication scheduled for early 2021.
All manuscripts will be subject to the journal’s ordinary review process, so acceptance by the
special issue editors does not guarantee eventual acceptance by Culture, Theory and Critique.
Potential authors are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with information about
the journal available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rctc20/current. For any
questions, please contact one of the special issue editors:
Zachary T. Androus, Florence Ethnographic Field School
prof.androus@florencefieldschool.com
Magdalena Stawkowski, Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina
stawkows@mailbox.sc.edu
Robert Kopack, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto
robert.kopack@mail.utoronto.ca
References.
Agamben G (1998 [1995]) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (trans D Heller-
Roazen). Stanford: Stanford University Press
Brown M (2018) The $15 Wage Movement Moves South: Politics of Region in Labor Union
Campaigns. Antipode 50(4):846 863
Colangelo A (2013) What is Extraterritorial Jurisdiction. Cornell Law Review 99(6):1303
1352
Ferguson J (1990) The Anti Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and
Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
Fessel M (2012) The Extraterritoriality Nexus: Manifestation of Extraterritoriality as Natural
Phenomenon in Urban Context. Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development
9(1):123 131
Gann P (1987) Forward: Issues in Extraterritoriality. Law and Contemporary Problems
50(3):1 10
Hecht G (2011) Entangled Geographies: Empire and Technopolitics in the Global Cold War.
Cambridge: The MIT Press
Kopack R (2019) Rocket Wastelands in Kazakhstan: Scientific Authoritarianism and the
Baikonur Cosmodrome. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 109(2):556-
567
Painter J (2010) Rethinking Territory. Antipode 42(5):1090 1118
Peluso N and Watts M (2001) Violent Environments. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Vogel C and Raymaekers T (2016) Terr(it)or(ies) of Peace? The Congolese Mining Frontier
and the Fight Against “Conflict Minerals.” Antipode 48(4):1102 1121

Contact Email
prof.androus@florencefieldschool.com