ABOUT THIS BOOK

In The Sovereign Trickster Vicente L. Rafael offers a prismatic view of the age of Rodrigo Duterte in the contemporary Philippines. Framing Duterte as a trickster figure who boasts, jokes, terrorizes, plays the victim, and instills terror, Rafael weaves together topics ranging from the drug war, policing, and extrajudicial killings to neoliberal citizenship, intimacy, and photojournalism. He is less concerned with defining Duterte as a fascist, populist, warlord, and traditional politician than he is with examining what Duterte does: how he rules, the rhetoric of his humor, his use of obscenity to stoke fear, and his projection of masculinity and misogyny. Locating Duterte's rise within the context of counterinsurgency, neoliberalism, and the history of electoral violence, while drawing on Foucault’s biopower and Mbembe’s necropolitics, Rafael outlines how Duterte weaponizes death to control life. By diagnosing the symptoms of the authoritarian imaginary as it circulates in the Philippines, Rafael provides a complex account of Duterte’s regime and the social conditions that allow him to enjoy continued support.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Vicente L. Rafael is Professor of History and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Washington and author of Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language amid Wars of Translation; The Promise of the Foreign: Nationalism and the Technics of Translation in the Spanish Philippines; White Love and Other Events in Filipino History; and Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule, all also published by Duke University Press.

REVIEWS

“In this remarkable book, Vicente L. Rafael, the preeminent scholar of language, nationalism, and colonialism in the Philippines, shows how the global swing to the right crystallizes in a specific national history. Rafael eloquently shows why Rodrigo Duterte must be placed in the long history of the use of antidemocratic means to bolster electoral democracy and how the darkest coercive practices in the Philippine archive are enacted in Duterte's obscene power.”

-- Arjun Appadurai, Max Weber Global Professor, Bard Graduate Center

“Vicente L. Rafael brings a fierce intelligence and formidable analytical power to explain Duterte’s dark charisma and the violence at the heart of his presidency. In these probing and insightful essays, he accounts for how and why a strongman from the country’s periphery has held a nation in thrall for so long.”

-- Sheila S. Coronel, Toni Stabile Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

"This fascinating book seeks to explain why Rodrigo Duterte, the outgoing president of the Philippines, has been so popular despite his gruesome human-rights record, authoritarian ruling style and unapologetic vulgarity"

-- Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer Survival

"The Sovereign Trickster provides readers with an erudite, in-depth, and historically-contextualized analysis of how Duterte’s persona operates, and why it is so appealing to so many. . . . Anyone with an interest in recent Philippine history should find The Sovereign Trickster incredibly entertaining, accessible – it is a rare writer who can juxtapose Foucault and Mbembe and explain the relevance of their ideas clearly – and analytically illuminating. This is a book that grapples with serious questions of relevance to many societies, but does so with an eloquence that makes it a pleasure to read."

-- Lin Hongxuan LSE Review of Books

"The Sovereign Trickster is not just another addition to the scholarly pile on the Duterte phenomenon. Vicente Rafael's contribution is timely because it takes stock of the populist leader towards the end of his tenure. Moreover, his book successfully weaves historical analysis with contemporary multidisciplinary theories and the empirical richness derived from existing works about Duterte. The value of this compact but impressive volume is that it adds nuance to our understanding of this political maverick beyond the caricatures on offer."

-- Aries A. Arugay Contemporary Southeast Asia

"For those searching for a carefully contextualized and empirically rich account of the Duterte phenomenon, this book is essential reading. Rafael’s grasp of multidisciplinary theory, his skill in rhetoric, together with his commitment to history, make this a rare, if sometimes graphic interrogation into the charisma of a man much of the world is satisfied to label a vulgar tyrant."

-- Adele Webb Southeast Asian Studies

"By helping readers understand Duterte’s broad appeal, Vicente Rafael’s Sovereign Trickster brings to the fore a complex and nuanced account of contemporary authoritarianism in the Global South. . . . The book effectively makes every reader realize the complexities inherent in Duterte, his enablers, and his leadership style. It also helps us explain why the political opposition found it difficult to launch a viable challenge."

-- Jean Encinas-Franco Perspectives on Politics

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Motherland

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