Review by Choice Review
Hanlon traces the ultimately unsuccessful attempts of the US to promote economic development in the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands between 1944 and 1992. He concludes that the American development effort was, in fact, a "discursive strategy of domination designed to better possess Micronesians by remaking them in an image and likeness . . . that served the interests of an American society. . . ." In the end, US trusteeship entailed gaining strategic control of the islands in return for the promise of future economic growth. Ironically, the more money Americans poured into their Trust Territories, the more dependent the islanders became. Hanlon examines various attempts to remake Micronesian states into liberal, capitalist democracies, but he also describes numerous attempts of islanders to preserve their own cultures in the face of foreign domination. For example, the American administration of the Trust Territories failed in its efforts to improve the fishing industry on one of the Eastern Caroline Islands by introducing new spear guns and outboard motors. Instead of increasing the catch, the new equipment conflicted with the traditional role of fishing as a cultural activity. In the end, the islanders preferred their own way. Upper-division undergraduates and above. C. J. Weeks; Southern Polytechnic State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
