Reimagining the American Pacific

by Wilson, Rob; Pease, Donald E.

• ISBN13: 9780822325239
• ISBN10: 0822325233
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

"Lyrical and disruptive, Wilson's book masterfully dismantles multiple and contradictory imaginings of "the Pacific" and recovers the psychic longings, material histories, and politics that have variously produced the modern "Asia Pacific." This book wrenches American studies out of any lingering continent-bound complacency, gives a much needed broader scope to Asian American studies, and discloses crucial blind-spots in Asian area studies. Highly recommended for scholars in all these areas, as well as cultural studies in general."--David Palumbo-Liu, author of "Asian/American: Historical Crossings of a Racial Frontier"

Author Biography

Rob Wilson teaches in the English Department at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Korea University in Seoul.

Table of Contents

Preface Searching for ``the Local'': Hawai`i as Miss Universe?	vii
Introduction ``How Did You Find America?'': On Becoming Asia/Pacific	1	(24)
Imagining ``Asia-Pacific'' Today: Forgetting Colonialisms in the Magical Waters of the Pacific	25	(32)
American Trajectories into Hawai`i and the Pacific: Imperial Mappings, Postocolonial Contestations	57	(32)
Megatrends and Micropolitics in the American Pacific: Tracing Some ``Local Motions'' from Mark Twain to Bamboo Ridge	89	(36)
Blue Hawai`i: Bamboo Ridge as ``Critical Regionalism''	125	(38)
Bloody Mary Meets Lois-Ann Yamanaka: Imagining Hawaiian Locality, from South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond	163	(28)
Shark God on Trial: Invoking Chief Ka-lani-o`pu`u in the Local/Indigenous/American Struggle for Place	191	(24)
Good-Bye Paradise: Theorizing Place, Poetics, and Cultural Production in the American Pacific	215	(30)
Becoming Global and Local in the U.S. Transnational Imaginary of the Pacific	245	(24)
Postmodern X: Honolulu Traces	269	(16)
Coda Part Italian, Part Many Things Else: Creating ``Asia/Pacific'' along a Honolulu-Taipei Line of Flight	273
Index