Empire of Love: Histories of France and the Pacific (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780195162950)

In this broad-ranging survey of Paris, Tahiti, Indochina, Japan, New Caledonia, and the South Pacific generally, Matt Matsuda illustrates the fascinating interplay that shaped the imaginations of both colonizer and colonized. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Matsuda describes the constitution of a "French Pacific" through the eyes of Tahitian monarchs, Kanak warriors, French politicos and prisoners, Asian revolutionaries and Central American laborers, among others. He argues that French imperialism in the Pacific, both real and imagined, was registered most forcefully in languages of desire and love--for lost islands, promised wealth and riches, carnal and spiritual pleasures--and political affinities. Exploring the conflicting engagements with love for and against the empire in the Pacific, this book is an imaginative and ground-breaking work in global imperial and colonial histories, as well as Pacific histories.

Author: Matt K. Matsuda
ISBN-10: 0195162951
ISBN-13: 9780195162950
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 01/13/2005
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.24w x 0.69d