American Pacificism - Oceania in the U.S. imagination - Postcolonial Literatures series volume

Sep 18, 2026

American Pacificism analyzes and critiques how the United States represents Oceania and Oceanian people from the nineteenth century to the present. Paul Lyons argues that imperial fantasies obscure a complex, violent history and proposes the framework of “American Pacificism.” Drawing on theories of friendship, hospitality, and tourism, the study reframes debates about “Orientalism” for an Oceanian setting, tracing how Pacific Islands shift between geopolitical “stepping stones” and culturally bounded “ends of the earth.”

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages289

Reading Time12 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

American Pacificism

Analysis of representations of Oceania

The concept of “American Pacificism”

American–Islander relations

Postcolonial Literatures series information

Series strands and example volumes

American Pacificism “Paul Lyons provides a splendid combination of original archival work, literary and psychoanalytical speculation, and anthropological insight, making this a cuttingedge kind of interventionist work in postcolonial literary research. The book is written in a historically informed yet theoretically rich mode that should be of interest not only to Pacific Studies scholars but also to those interested in the broader dynamics of American imperialism and the vocabularies of racial and cultural interaction.” Rob Wilson, University of California at Santa Cruz This study provides a provocative analysis and critique of American representations of Oceania and Oceanians, from the nineteenth century to the present. Arguing that imperial fantasies have glossed over a complex, violent history, Paul Lyons develops the concept of “American Pacificism.” This theoretical framework draws on contemporary theories of friendship, hospitality, and tourism to refigure established debates around “Orientalism” for an Oceanian context. Lyons explores American–Islander relations and traces the ways in which two fundamental conceptions of Oceania have been entwined in the American imagination. On the one hand, the Pacific Islands are envisioned as economic and geopolitical “stepping stones,” rather than ends in themselves, and on the other they are imagined as ends of the earth or “cultural limits,” unencumbered by notions of sin, antitheses to the industrial worlds of economic and political modernity. Both conceptions obscure not only Islander cultures, but also innovative responses to incursion. The Islands instead emerge in relation to American national identity, as places for scientific discovery, soul-saving and civilizing missions, manhood-testing adventure, nuclear testing, and eroticized furloughs between maritime work or warfare. Ranging from first contact and the colonial archive through to postcolonialism and global tourism, this powerful volume draws upon a wide, rewarding range of literary works, historical and cultural scholarship, government documents, and tourist literature. Paul Lyons is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Ma¯noa, where he teaches U.S. literatures, literary and cultural theory, and regional/settler literatures. He has published three novels, an edition of Owen Chase’s Narrative of the Wreck of the Essex, and essays on U.S. and Oceanian literatures and arts. Postcolonial Literatures Edited in collaboration with the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, this series presents a wide range of research into postcolonial literatures by specialists in the field. Volumes will concentrate on writers and writing originating in previously (or presently) colonized areas, and will include material from nonanglophone as well as anglophone colonies and literatures. The series will also include collections of important essays from older journals, and re-issues of classic texts on postcolonial subjects. Routledge is pleased to invite proposals for new books in the series. Interested authors should contact Lyn Innes or Rod Edmond at the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, or Routledge’s Commissioning Editor for Literature. The series comprises three strands. Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures is a forum for innovative new research intended for a specialist readership. Published in hardback, titles include: 1. Magical Realism in West African Fiction: Seeing with a Third Eye by Brenda Cooper 2. The Postcolonial Jane Austen edited by You-Me Park and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan 3. Contemporary Caribbean Women’s Poetry: Making Style by Denise deCaires Narain 4. African Literature, Animism and Politics by Caroline Rooney 5. Caribbean-English Passages: Intertextuality in a Postcolonial Tradition by Tobias Döring 6. Islands in History and Representation edited by Rod Edmond and Vanessa Smith

FAQs

What does “American Pacificism” refer to in the book?

It is a theoretical framework that refigures established debates about “Orientalism” for an Oceanian context, drawing on theories of friendship, hospitality, and tourism.

How does the book describe American visions of the Pacific Islands?

It contrasts portrayals of the Pacific Islands as geopolitical “stepping stones” with portrayals of them as “ends of the earth” or “cultural limits,” both of which can obscure Islander cultures and responses.

Which kinds of sources does the study draw on across its historical range?

It draws on literary works, historical and cultural scholarship, government documents, and tourist literature, moving from first contact and colonial archives to postcolonialism and global tourism.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Emma Wilson