American Studies Association Conference 2008
Call for Papers

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Routes of U.S. Imperial Capital:
Intersections of Political Economy and Desire in the Transnational Pacific

More than a century of U.S. imperialism across the Pacific has undoubtedly instigated, and relied upon, the transnational movement of peoples of the Pacific Islands and the Asian Pacific. American Studies literature that addresses the political economy and culture of U.S. imperialism has tended to trace such circuits of power back to the United States, to conclude that the deployment of imperial capital and culture abroad shaped the contours of the U.S. nation at home. This panel follows a different track. We investigate the convergences between local social structures and cultural practices of people of the Pacific Islands and the Asian Pacific, with the gender and racializing systems of U.S. imperialism. Based on ethnographic or historical anthropological work, our papers follow our respective informants' adaptations and transformations of U.S. power to locally-based systems of symbolic and practical significance. Collectively, we explore the ways in which Asians and Pacific Islanders engage the global economy and pursue local projects within a transnational framework. We understand the intersection of local social worlds with certain U.S. forms of imperialism as the meeting of U.S. and local political economies, the mobilization of fantasy in the service of U.S. capital and transnational labor, and the desires of Pacific and Asian Pacific peoples' for social mobility and meaningful practice.

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We therefore invite papers that consider the ways in which subjects are differently marked, in terms of race, gender, class, sexuality, or status, within local and transnational political economic systems and social hierarchies; how fantasy, desire, or dreams intersect with politico-economic imperatives and/or inequalities; or papers that otherwise take into serious consideration the social structures, political economy, and /or everyday experiences and practices of Pacific Island and Asian Pacific localities.

Please note that both the title and the abstract for this panel are subject to changes as determined by the respective presenters.

For further information and to submit an abstract of an individual paper for this panel, please contact either Lisa Uperesa at flu2101@columbia.edu and/or Jan Padios at janmpadios@gmail.com.

Abstract submission deadline: January 23, 2008.