Abstract
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By focusing on the ontological notion of 'exceptionality' present
in Agamben's oeuvre, rather than on 'states of exception', I adhere
to the claim that Agamben's conceptual tools are relevant to the
cultural analysis of settler-colonial societies. At its core, his work
is sensitive to anxieties about decolonisation, though his concepts
require some philosophical adaptation if this relevance is
to be made explicit. My reading aims to supplement and expand
Agamben's conceptual apparatus with insights from two sources:
one is Esposito's 'immunitarian' paradigm; and the other is
Deleuze and Guattari's politics of desire.