2007 Annual Meeting, Association
of American Geographers
April 17-21 2007, San Francisco, CA
1439: (Post)Colonial Subjects of American Imperialism
I
Tuesday, 4/17/07, from 2:00 PM - 3:40 PM
Description:
Recent years have seen a burgeoning literature in geography about
the contours of an American empire. Some suggest that America's
capricious imperial formations were in fact enabled by a problematic
notion of "empire" that was inadequate to assess the complex
powers through which resources, rights, and relationships were negotiated
in the twentieth century. Some further suggest that the subtle and
intimate forms of subjection were all the more effective because
they were less readily called to account with such a concept. Yet
the recent literature on empire usually stops shy of much detailed
analysis of the everyday "colonial" negotiations in sites
where America's military, economic, and cultural powers reconfigured
the dynamics of daily life and subjectivity. Arguably, historical
geographies of America's mundane influence overseas are now poised
to become the most productive sites through which the diverse contours
of an American imperial formation can be illuminated. This session
offers work that strives to proceed from such a bottom-up approach.
It assembles theoretically-informed, empirically-rich papers that
explore the micro-geographies through which (post)colonial subjectivities
were constituted under regimes of American influence that were,
in turn, rarely acknowledged as "empire" by Americans
in the states. In their conclusions, each author has been asked
to reflect briefly on how their work may serve to critique or to
supplement recent studies on the contours of American empire.
Organizers: Matthew Kurtz - Open University, Karen
M. Morin - Bucknell University
Chair: Matthew Kurtz
Participants:
Introduction: Matthew Kurtz - Open University
Sarah de Leeuw - Queen's University
Needful Altruisms, Disingenuous Philanthropy: Colonial Constructions
of Other and Self within the Intimate Geographies of 'Indian' Residential
Schools in British Columbia, Canada
Justin Young-Chan Choi, Ph.D candidate - Durham University
The role of American missionary in the formation of public-private
spatial division
Laurel J. Hummel, Ph.D. - US Military Academy
Use and/or Abuse? The US Military's Relationship with Alaska
Natives During the Cold War
RDK Herman - Towson University
Inscribing Conquest: Guam and the War in the Pacific National
Historical Park
