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Reviews
PATHWAYS TO THE PRESENT: U.S. DEVELOPMENT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN THE PACIFIC
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by Mansel G. Blackford
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| University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2007. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 278 pages. $48.00 cloth. |
| In 2001, historian John McNeill wrote that the field of Pacific environmental history did not yet exist, although many scholars had written of the commonalities in environmental developments throughout the Pacific Rim. Mansel G. Blackford, a professor of history at The Ohio State University, has added to this growing literature with a thoughtful look at how World War II and the Cold War acted as major catalysts for change throughout the Pacific region. American spending provided much of the impetus for regional economic growth and integration of trade. But the local costs have been high. |
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Political and economic colonialism have shaped development throughout the entire Pacific Rim. Yet, many areas (Guam and American Samoa, for example) failed to develop self-sustaining economies. Tourism has replaced military spending as a mainstay of many economies (such as Hawaii's), creating controversies surrounding land use, water use, and homogenization of culture and identity. The development of Silicon Valley and Seattle exposed many workers to toxic materials, creating congestion and pollution of the air, open bodies of water, and groundwater. Pathways to the Present seeks the commonalities in these developments. |
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Blackford focuses on how Pacific peoples have tried to shape their lives in this changing region. While the complexity of the Pacific region makes generalizations difficult, he has picked some provocative examples to examine using the theme of environmental justice. Standards of living have risen throughout the region, but many areas of the Pacific are still dependent on boom and bust economies that are based on extractive industries. |
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Blackford builds his case for commonality through a mix of historical examples and modern-day environmental analysis. In a chapter on Alaska, he focuses on the 1961 decision by the Point Barrow Natives to fight Project Chariot, an Atomic Energy Commission proposal to use nuclear bombs to create a harbor on Alaska's Northwest Coast. The conflict led to the establishment of the Alaskan Federation of Natives. Such conflicts continue among farmers, fishers, lumber workers, and oil workers who battle over access to public lands. |
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Similar conflicts are echoed in the chapters on Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and American Samoa. The Hawaii chapter looks at efforts to restore Kaho'olawe, the smallest of the eight islands, which was used for decades as a military bombing range. Residents of Guam and American Samoa have also fought military control of their islands. Blackman likens their efforts to the work of urban residents in the United States who are fighting to prevent their neighborhoods from being used as landfills, sewage stations, and electrical power plants. |
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Another concern is the battle to protect native species from introduced species, a process that began with the colonization of the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians. The brown tree snake, inadvertently introduced to Guam by the American military, has decimated native wildlife, creating a major ecological disaster and significantly hindering development of the island's economy. |
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One of the most interesting chapters focuses on the rebuilding of Hiroshima after World War II. Blackford traces the development of the city before the war, its devastation, and the involvement of environmental and economic trade-offs in its rebuilding. Residents agreed on an ideological mission for their city, that it be known as the "City of Peace" (p. 146). Rebuilding did not really begin until 1949, when the Peace Park was created in Nakajima and nearby Saiku-machi, an area of about thirty acres. While the park enjoyed wide support, it also involved the removal and relocation of residents, just as Native Americans were removed when national parks were created in the United States. During the 1980s, heavy industry declined in Hiroshima, which became a center for new high-technology firms. In 1984, the Japanese government designated an area east of the city, called Higashi-Hiroshima, to become a Japanese Silicon Valley. The expected economic stimulus, however, did not materialize. |
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Where high-tech has been successful in reshaping economies, there are hidden costs. Both Seattle and Silicon Valley boomed during World War II and the Cold War. Landscapes were severely altered and economic development was uneven, stimulating the growth of grassroots environmentalism. The hazards of high-tech production fell heavily on a largely immigrant workforce, and relatively few immigrants found managerial positions. |
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As Blackford points out, historians, geographers, anthropologists, and others are re-thinking Pacific history. There is a need to see "the Pacific as a major unified region of the world; and a need to examine interactions among Pacific peoples, their natural environments, and their economies," (p. 5). Blackford's volume further contributes to these objectives. |
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| Carmel Finley
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| Corvallis, Oregon |
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