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Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West Crocombe, Ron. 2007. Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West. Suva: IPS
publications, University of the South Pacific. 624 pages. ISBN 978-982-0203884
(hb). - reviewed by Jonathan
Friedman, 'Directeur
d'études' at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and Distinguished
Professor of Anthropology at the University of California in San Diego This is a remarkable book by one of the most
knowledgeable scholars of the Pacific, a fit legacy to a long and productive
career, but also a kind of crowning work that develops a global perspective on
social, economic, political and cultural change in the Pacific. It is not the
usual essay like analysis of a particular historical situation. It is more like
a source book, encyclopedic in breadth and organized for a single purpose, to
document what is stated in the title, i.e. the replacement of the West by Asian
powers in the Pacific Islands. The author traces the long history of Western
expansion in the Pacific and even Asia. Asians were primarily labor power in
the Pacific, imported primarily as indentured workers under the various
colonial regimes. All this has begun to change over the past few decades
following a rather complex yet unidirectional trend. There is the rise of the
Chinese diaspora, for example, from the status of imported labor to that of
wealthy and economically dominant entrepreneurs in numerous sectors. And in all
of this the Chinese went from being overseas Chinese to being Chinese overseas, a clear change of
relation in the relation between the Chinese state and its diaspora. This is a
process that has been going on for at least 60 years, but it has clearly come
to express a more general shift in orientation in the Islands. The book is organized along a set of axes
that is worth stating here: the movement of people in the period of Western
dominance from Asia to the islands as labor power and ending with Asian
tourism, investors and a movement of islanders to Asia; 'hardware' or the
exchange of raw materials and 'holidays' for manufactured goods and investment,
the movement of services to the islands and the increase in organized crime.
All of the latter have shifted from the West to Asia; the shift of aid and
trade from West to East under changing regimes of control. They reflect the
gradual decentralization of Western power, the rise of independent polities and
their gradual incorporation into the expanding Asian spheres of influence. The
latter of course are not unitary but woven into national and regional conflicts
of their own; 'software' or the shift in the movement of ideas, patterns of
thought, education, sport and public culture. Most of the book is a massive and detailed
documentation of the changes in these movements from people through ideas and
ideologies. The original demographic changes have played a crucial role,
primarily in the gradual establishment of mixed categories of part-Asians which
are themselves the product of colonial racial classifications. I recall from my
own fieldwork in Hawaii, a story of a Hawaiian who went to Vietnam in the army,
was captured and suddenly realized as he crouched over his rice bowl that the
Vietnamese ate in the same way. One of the leaders of the Hawaiian movement
became increasingly involved with East Asian sponsors and even argued, against
prevailing Hawaiian opinion, for a pro-Japanese strategy among Hawaiians. Much
of this ideological shift was occurring in Hawaii during the late 1970s and
especially the 1980s when the Japanese replaced Americans as the major owners
of commercial property in the Island State. John Waihe'e, the first native
Hawaiian governor of the state intimated at the almost revolutionary atmosphere
of his inauguration in 1986 the intention of making Hawaii a Pacific nation
free from American influence and with its eyes toward the East. This was the
period in which Japan replaced the United States as the major investor in the
state. Similar processes with a great deal of variation were occurring
throughout the Pacific during this period. This kind of historical process is not present in the
book in question but it might have been interesting to have case studies of
this kind. Crocombe is more concerned with the panoramic picture and in this he
is quite successful. I found the section on crime and less than legal
operations fascinating since there is so much journalism on these issues, from
the various mafias that have been involved in the control and transport of
drugs, money laundering and the like. There are stories of mafia leaders buying
hotels with cash and there is of a course a powerful backlash in many areas
against what is assumed to be Asian corruption in island politics. The kinds of
conflicts that have emerged are a clear expression of major shift in the
balance of power in the Pacific. The final chapter dealing with prospects for the
future is the most important in analytical terms, since it is here that we find
a clear perspective on the historical transformation involved. Here the issue
of declining Western hegemony and a symmetrical rise of Asian hegemony is
clearly stated. I am biased, I suppose, in relation to this work, having argued
for a similar perspective on the processes involved. Crocombe has in my view
successfully illustrated a shift of hegemony in the Pacific that is paralleled
in other parts of the peripheral sectors of the global system. The book is so
detailed in relation to this argument that it would be difficult to dismiss it.
Thus, this is an extremely important contribution to our understanding of the
contemporary world. |