Explores the relationship between race, knowledge, and violence that underpins U.S. modernity.
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. Freedom's Amendments: Race, Sexuality, and Disposability under the State Form 1
Part I
1. Freedom and Violence in W. E. B. Du Bois's Souls of Black Folk: The Land of Racial Equality 55
2. Legal Freedom as Violence in Nella Larsen's Quicksand: Black Literary Publics during the Interwar Years 90
Interlude 134
Part II
3. Rights-Based Freedom with Violence: Immigration, Sexuality, and the Subject of Human Rights 143
4. Moving beyond a Freedom with Violence: The Politics of Gay Marriage in the Era of Racial Transformation 182
Conclusion. Don't Ask, Don't Tell 219
Notes 247
Bibliography 283
Index 297
Chandan Reddy is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Washington.