{"product_id":"the-sovereign-trickster-9781478015185","title":"The Sovereign Trickster","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVicente L. Rafael provides a complex account of how Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte uses humor, fear, misogyny, and violence to weaponize death as a means to control life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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\u003cbr\u003e“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\u003cbr\u003e\"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 *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Sovereign Trickster\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Sovereign Trickster\u003c\/i\u003e 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 *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Sovereign Trickster\u003c\/i\u003e 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 *\u003cbr\u003e\"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 *\u003cbr\u003e\"By helping readers understand Duterte’s broad appeal, Vicente Rafael’s \u003ci\u003eSovereign Trickster \u003c\/i\u003ebrings 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 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments  ix\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Prismatic Histories  1\u003cbr\u003e 1. Electoral Dystopias  6\u003cbr\u003e Sketches I: The Dream of Benevolent Dictatorship  18\u003cbr\u003e 2. Marcos, Duterte, and the Predicaments of Neoliberal Citizenship  21\u003cbr\u003e Sketches II: \u003ci\u003eMotherland\u003c\/i\u003e and the Biopolitics of Reproductive Health  36\u003cbr\u003e 3. Duterte's Phallus: On the Aesthetics of Authoritarian Vulgarity  42\u003cbr\u003e Sketches III: Duterte's Hobbesian World  57\u003cbr\u003e Duterte's Sense of Time60\u003cbr\u003e 4. The Sovereign Trickster  63\u003cbr\u003e Sketches IV: Comparing Extrajudicial Killing  87\u003cbr\u003e Death Squads  89\u003cbr\u003e On Duterte's Matrix  94\u003cbr\u003e Fecal Politics  98\u003cbr\u003e 5. Photography and the Biopolitics of Fear: Witnessing the Philippine Drug War  103\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. Intimacy and the Autoimmune Community  131\u003cbr\u003e Notes 147\u003cbr\u003e References  151\u003cbr\u003e Index  169","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408997949783,"sku":"9781478015185","price":70.55,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781478015185.jpg?v=1730505025","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-sovereign-trickster-9781478015185","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}