2007 Annual Meeting, Association
of American Geographers
April 17-21 2007, San Francisco, CA
1539: (Post)Colonial Subjects of American Imperialism
II
Tuesday, 4/17/07, from 4:00 PM - 5:40 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: Karen M. Morin
Participants:
Introduction: Karen M. Morin - Bucknell University
Matthew Kurtz - Open University
Subjects of a Visual Economy: A home-economics teacher, her
photos, and a friendship in the postwar Arctic
James M Delaney - University of Toronto, Department of Geography
and Program in Planning
In Hock to the American Empire? Economic Subjectivities and
the Local Politics of Microfinance in Vietnam
Kathryn J. Besio - University of Hawaii-Hilo
Being Haole: "race," education and US empire in Hawai`i
Discussant: Mona Domosh - Dartmouth College
