"I Guess They Didn't Want Us Asking Too Many Questions": Reading American Empire in Guam
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2013
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University of Hawai‘i Press
Center for Pacific Islands Studies
Center for Pacific Islands Studies
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This article analyzes Chris Perez Howard’s biography of his mother, Mariquita: A Tragedy of Guam, and selections from Craig Santos Perez’s poetry book from unincorporated territory: [hacha] and explores their responses to the continued colonization of Guam by the United States. While these two authors use the same events, namely World War II and the multiple military occupations of their home island, to reflect on the contemporary situation in Guam, I claim that the United States is able to continue its colonization of Guam through the twin practices of denying its own imperial practices and ignoring the pleas of native activists. The United States is partially able to accomplish its denial by using a memorialization of rescue from coercive and repressive colonizers who are portrayed in contrast with its own “benevolent” stewardship of the island. This rhetoric of liberation has been one of the acceptable forms of narrative for past authors, but contemporary authors and activists are beginning to explore other forms of discourse.
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US imperialism, World War II, Guam, Chamorro, military, literary analysis, the body, Oceania -- Periodicals
Citation
Woodward, V. S. 2013. "I Guess They Didn't Want Us Asking Too Many Questions": Reading American Empire in Guam. The Contemporary Pacific 25 (1): 67-91.
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25 pages
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