Speaking to Power

This book explores the construction of "gender" and "politics" in the context of Belau's long history of colonial administration by Spain, Germany, Japan and then the US, by focusing on relations within historical patterns of clan-based politics, electoral politics introduced during US administration, and oppositional activities to US military proposals. For nearly fifty years, US government officials have identified the Micronesian islands of Belau, also known as Palau, as the key to strategic planning in the western Pacific. Elderly women have placed themselves in the forefront of opposition to US military plans that would permit the US to gain permanent access to the land, reefs and waters of Belau for military purposes. This ethnography traces the process of constructing and representing the research in ways that address multiple levels of power relations within academia and academic research, within gender relations in Belau, and within Belau's relationship with the United States.