Oh, say, can you see? : the semiotics of the military in Hawaiʻi

Author / Creator

Ferguson, Kathy E. author

Available as

Online

Summary

"Everywhere you look in Hawaiʻi, you might see the military. And yet, in daily life few residents see the military at all -- it is hidden in plain sight. This paradox of invisibility and visibility...

"Everywhere you look in Hawaiʻi, you might see the military. And yet, in daily life few residents see the military at all -- it is hidden in plain sight. This paradox of invisibility and visibility, of the available and the hidden, is the subject of Oh, Say, Can You See?, which maps the power relations involving gender, race, and class that define Hawaiʻi in relation to the national security state. Western intruders into Hawaiʻi -- from the early explorers, missionaries, and sugar planters to the military, tourists, and foreign investors -- have seen the island nation as a feminine place, waiting to embrace those who come to penetrate, protect, mold, and develop, yet conveniently lacking whatever the newcomers claim to possess. Thus feminized, this book contends, the islands and the people have been reinscribed with meanings according to the needs, fears, and desires of outsiders. Authors Kathy E. Ferguson and Phyllis Turnbull locate and "excavate" sites of memory, such as cemeteries, memorials, monuments, and museums, to show how the military constructs its gendered narrative upon prior colonial discourses. Among the sites considered are Fort DeRussy, Pearl Harbor, and Punchbowl Cemetery, as well as the practices of citizenship that are produced or foreclosed by the narratives of order and security written upon Hawaiʻi by the military. This semiotic investigation of ways the military marks Hawaiʻi necessarily explores the intersection of immigration, colonialism, military expansion, and tourism on the islands. Attending to the ways in which the military represents itself and others represent the military, the authors locate the particular representational elements that both conceal and reveal the military's presence and power; in doing so, they seek to expand discursive space so that other voices can be heard."--Provided by publisher.

Show More