Lynn Wilson - Speaking to Power: Gender and Politics in the Western Pacific

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speaking to power

Speaking to Power

gender and politics in the western pacific

Lynn B. Wilson

Published in 1995 by

Routledge
711 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Published in Great Britain by

Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park
Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1995 by Routledge, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilson, Lynn B.,
Speaking to power: gender and politics in the western Pacific / by Lynn B. Wilson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-90923-6ISBN 0-415-90924-4 (pbk.)
1. EthnologyPalau. 2. Political anthropologyPalau. 3. Sex rolePalau. 4. PalauPolitics and government. I. Title.
GN671.C3W55 1994
306.2'09966dc20

94-17760
CIP

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data also available.

CONTENTS

Guide

THE MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITIES we live and move in have long been charged with debates surrounding "ISMS" based on objectives of promoting social justice and challenging power inequality: Colonialism, Racism, Militarism, Sexism, Ethnocentrism, and more. My motivation for entering this ethnographic work emerged in response to the violence of power inequities. Equally important, my work has grown from a commitment to focus on howas students, educators, citizens, and activistswe can more clearly understand power relations, shape and reshape definitions and debates concerning power, and then move to challenge power asymmetries that touch the lives of every individual, culture, and nation around the globe.

Most people in the United States have never heard of the island group of Belau or the islands in the large area of the Pacific that are called Micronesia. Rather than criticism, this observation simply reveals a collective unconsciousness largely paralleling that related to other island territories politically tied to yet remaining outside the commonly understood boundaries of "these United States": Puerto Rico in the Caribbean; and, in the Pacific, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. Rather than criticism, this observation exposes a dissonancea thresholdfrom which to critically examine layers of interconnected power relations and to identify our own place within them.

People in Belau have lived under U.S. administration since the end of World War II, when U.S. officials promised the international community that the United States would promote self-government for those who lived on these islands. Yet, in decades that followed, U.S. officials consistently designed and implemented policies intended to maintain permanent access to Belau's land, reefs, and waters for military purposes. A close study of this era in Belau's history illuminates how the U.S. government, while claiming the title of "defender of democracy" in other parts of the world, gave priority to its own perceived strategic needs over the rights of self-government for people in Belau.

Since 1979, voters have gone to the polls repeatedly in referenda related to U.S. military proposals; until recently, each vote failed to win the required majority. As the United States steadily increased political and economic pressures throughout the course of these multiple votes, corruption, coercion, misinformation, assassination, government-sanctioned intimidation, and violence directed against opponents of U.S. military plans marked all levels of local politics. Belau's officials tended to support U.S. proposals while, generally, certain women elders became identified as "the opposition."

Two women's organizations emerged as major actors in local and international debates surrounding Belau's political future and U.S. military proposals. Activities initiated by both groups included campaigning against U.S. military proposals, educating the public about specific provisions within these proposals, utilizing lawsuits to challenge unconstitutional actions of Belau's government officials, participating in international speaking tours, testifying before the U.S. Congress, and presenting petitions before the United Nations. The courage and commitment of these women to continue political efforts in the face of intense violence and intimidation inspired international recognition in 1989, when both organizations received nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The most recent vote on Belau's future political status and U.S. military proposals took place in November 1993, months after I completed the manuscript that follows. Government officials in Belau and in the United States then claimed that voters finally approved U.S. military proposals. Two lawsuits, currently pending, challenge that interpretation, yet there is widespread recognition that the U.S. government is now closer than ever before to winning its long-standing objectives of permanently tying Belau to the United States.

Writing within this political context, I have aimed to create an engaging, accessible ethnography, a learning/teaching tool that can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses as well as in venues outside academia. "Success" would mean that I have contributed to clearer understandings of those complex power relations that shape every interaction in our lives. More specifically, success would mean providing the opportunity for readers to critically examine and develop further questions related to four major points concerning various aspects of power addressed in this research:

• to explore effects of U.S. military policy on communities around the world and how responses from those communities have contributed to shaping international politics;
• to emphasize that meanings of "gender," "politics," and "tradition" in any particular culture do not simply exist as if static in time but are constructed within specific sociocultural contexts;
• to create accessible discussion of the intersections of feminist and poststructural notions of power and to assert that these analytical approaches offer effective paths to identify, understand, and challenge power inequities;
• to experiment in the form of representation and ethnographic writing to reveal the process of producing knowledge and to confront issues of power infused in any cross-cultural research and writing project.

The research and writing process represented here, spanning many years, has deeply challenged me intellectually, professionally, creatively, and personally. Its completion would not have been possible without the generous funding, extensive assistance, careful guidance, or insightful and stimulating comments offered to me. I am extremely grateful to all those who gave encouragement and chose to engage throughout this ethnographic work.

A number of sources provided funding at various stages of research and writing. My fieldwork in Belau was funded by a Dissertation Grant for Field Research from the National Science Foundation (1987, BNS 8704079) and by a Graduate School Fellowship from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1987 and 1988). Since my return, I have received assistance for related writing projects from the Peace Development Fund and the Foundation for a Compassionate Society. The Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, Harvard University, provided support for dissertation writing by awarding the Peace Fellowship (1990) and Visitor-in-Residence (1991). I would also like to thank Mary Wilson and Anne Wilson for their unique contributions to this endeavor.

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