Responses to Recent AQ Scholarship

Response provided by: Giles Scott-Smith, Senior Researcher, Roosevelt Study Center, The Netherlands

Read the critique (PDF)

Kennedy and Lucas have done a fine job in throwing the proverbial cat among the pigeons with their recent article in American Quarterly. In these politically charged times, with the United States seemingly out of kilter with the rest of the world, it is especially pertinent to consider some home truths about ‘American Studies’ and ‘public diplomacy’. Intellectual integrity and autonomy in relation to US foreign policy are back on the agenda for the first time since Vietnam. Spaces of dissent need to be well articulated to escape the gravitational pull of ‘full spectrum dominance’. Exposing the power relations operating behind public diplomacy and undermining the power-less pretensions of American Studies are two counter-punches which Kennedy and Lucas land with some skill. They claim that the critical autonomous zones they aim to open up with this assault, hopefully to be filled rapidly by willing accomplices, should provide the basis for a New Look on the ‘American empire’. The intent is admirable, the means conceivable. Nevertheless, their call to arms tends to smooth over some inconsistencies in the logistical build-up. ...