From valuation to suspicion: how neoliberal economic fundamentalism produces panoptic power in the reluctant fundamentalist

Abstract

Literary critics have posited divergent interpretations of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Varying opinions preoccupy mostly the geopolitics of the post 9/11 era, neoliberal capitalism, Orientalism, migration experience, and subjectivity. This paper offers yet another perspective on The Reluctant Fundamentalist linking neoliberal capitalism with the surveillance culture that emerges after 9/11. I argue that the suspicion directed at Changez does not arise suddenly after the attacks but develops from earlier practices of evaluation within neoliberal institutions. Close factual reading allowed me to gather knowledge about neoliberal rationality, surveillance culture, and diffused power of a control society. Drawing briefly on concepts from Michel Foucaul, Gilles Deleuze and Wendy Brown, the thesis demonstrates how neoliberal forms of discipline help prepare the conditions for post-9/11 surveillance.