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Flores鈥檚 Book Champions CHamoru People

When he was a child, 无忧视频 Asian American studies professor Alfred Flores spent a lot of time at his grandparents鈥� ranch in Perris, California. From farming practices to hospitality, Flores experienced his family鈥檚 CHamoru culture, imported by his grandparents, who had immigrated from Gu氓han (Guam). Later, when Flores visited Gu氓han for the first time, he was struck not only by how familiar it was, thanks to his time on his grandparents鈥� ranch, but also by the strong CHamoru culture, despite the island having been occupied by the U.S. military for decades.聽

In his new book,(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2023), Flores explores the tension in the history and relationships between the CHamoru people and the U.S. military in Gu氓han. Emphasizing CHamoru resilience, resistance and survival, he argues that that the U.S. occupation of the island, one of the most heavily militarized islands in the Western Pacific Ocean, was enabled by a process of settler militarism.

Flores says the book is part of his 鈥渃ommitment to expanding how we understand these places in Oceania, that they’re not isolated islands that are far away. And even though Gu氓han might be seen as a small place, it鈥檚 an important place when it comes to understanding American geopolitics.鈥�

Tip of the Spear outlines how, as a launching site for military operations in the region during World War II and the Cold War, Gu氓han became strategically significant piece of America鈥檚 overseas empire. But, for the CHamoru people, the occupation has meant land dispossession and the importation of several thousand workers from Asia and the continental United States.

鈥淭his isn’t a book that is critiquing particular individuals,鈥� Flores says. 鈥淚t’s a critique of structures of power that are in place, that they鈥檙e embedded in laws. They’re embedded in policies that are unilateral and authoritarian. There needs to be greater understanding that when it comes to the different things that are happening there, whether it’s environmental or political. There’s a particular kind of indigenous way of life that was ongoing before the U.S. military got there, and even before the Spanish got there, that still endures today.鈥�