David Haekwon Kim

The Place of American Empire: Amerasian Territories and Late American Modernity

Imperialism rarely receives discussion in mainstream philosophy. In radical philosophy, where imperialism is analyzed with some frequency, European expansion is the paradigm. This essay considers the nature and specificity of American imperialism, especially its racialization structures, diplomatic history, and geographic trajectory, from pre‐twentieth century “Amerasia” to present‐day Eurasia. The essay begins with an account of imperialism generally, one which is couched in language consistent with left‐liberalism but compatible with a more radical discourse. This account is then used throughout the rest of the essay to illumine, through consideration of US foreign policy, structures of American dominion in Latin America, the Pacific, and Asia—and subsequently Eurasia. The overall analytic and geographic portrait offers critical context for both philosophy of race, which tends to be domestically oriented, and just war theory, which tends to ignore wider structures of diplomatic domination.

José Mariátegui's East-South Decolonial Experiment

Common notions of comparative philosophy tend to be strongly configured by the East-West axis. This essay suggests ways of seeing Latin American liberation philosophy as a form of comparative philosophy and an important Latin American thinker as being relevant for East-West political philosophy. The essay focuses on the Peruvian activist and intellectual, José Mariátegui, who is widely regarded to have been a leading Marxist, liberatory, and decolonial figure in 20th century Latin America. Like many “Third World” intellectuals of the interwar years, Mariátegui had an interest in decolonization struggles in Asia and wrote with some consistency on this subject and in ways that bear significantly upon key themes in his political theory. Since very little of this has received commentary, this essay begins a discussion of Mariáteguis decolonial experimentation with ideas about Asia, decolonization, and indigenous cultural forms, like those of the Incas and Confucians. After some preliminary discussion of Eurocentrism, postcolonial thought, and decolonial thought, attention is focused on Mariáteguis East-South geography of liberation, heuristic use of Chinese revolutionary politics, and Sinified hermeneutic for conceptualizing the consciousness of the Peruvian indigenous, a central element of his political theory.

Empire's entrails and the imperial geography of “Amerasia”

Most criticism of American imperialism is founded on theories that take European expansion as their paradigm. Here David Haekwon Kim examines aspects of distinctly American imperialism, specifically urban anticipations of US overseas expansion, the codification of imperial dominion in structures of US foreign diplomacy and the prophetic geography of US domination extending from “Amerasia” to Eurasia. First, Kim offers some stage‐setting through a preliminary account of imperialism cast in the vocabulary of leftliberal theory but compatible with some more radical analytic frameworks. Secondly, he discusses the converging premonitions of American empire experienced by José Martí during his exile in New York City and by José Rizal during his sojourn to San Francisco. Kim concludes by using these considerations to generate a geographic portrait of American dominion in Latin America, the Pacific, Asia and then finally Europes Orient.Most criticism of American imperialism is founded on theories that take European expansion as their paradigm. Here David Haekwon Kim examines aspects of distinctly American imperialism, specifically urban anticipations of US overseas expansion, the codification of imperial dominion in structures of US foreign diplomacy and the prophetic geography of US domination extending from “Amerasia” to Eurasia. First, Kim offers some stage‐setting through a preliminary account of imperialism cast in the vocabulary of leftliberal theory but compatible with some more radical analytic frameworks. Secondly, he discusses the converging premonitions of American empire experienced by Jose Marti during his exile in New York City and by Jose Rizal during his sojourn to San Francisco. Kim concludes by using these considerations to generate a geographic portrait of American dominion in Latin America, the Pacific, Asia and then finally Europes Orient.