Publication date:
21 December 2006Length of book:
268 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9780742553576
Geography encompasses everything from the local—where human beings live, work, and travel—to metageographies like nations and regions. James A. Tyner's inventive and multidisciplinary ideas on geography similarly range from the personal—his father's experience in the military during the Vietnam War—to a broad discussion of how the United States has come to exercise power through the production of geographic knowledge, in this case in Southeast Asia. Since the end of the Second World War, Southeast Asia has served as a surrogate space to further American imperial interests, which are economic, political, territorial, and moral in scope. America's Strategy in Southeast Asia contends that the construction of Southeast Asia as a geographic entity has been a crucial component in the creation of the American empire. For example, America's most blatant experience of colonial rule occurred the Philippines, America's longest war was fought in Vietnam, and most recently, some American policymakers have identified Southeast Asia as the "Second Front" in the War on Terror. Yet, America's overriding strategy in Southeast Asia and the region itself remains something of a mystery for the American populace—a "black box" in America's geographical imagination. This clear and innovative book educates readers about Southeast Asia's importance in American foreign policy.
The ways we divide the world geographically have powerful political and social implications. This may seem an obvious point when the focus of attention is a highly charged, contested construct such as the 'Islamic World,' but it applies to seemingly objective regional divisions as well. Southeast Asia is a case in point. As this book powerfully shows, Southeast Asia is anything but a geographical given. It is a regional construct of recent vintage that has emerged out of, and has shaped, U.S. foreign policy—with far-reaching implications for the politics and economics of the region. Tyner's penetrating analysis of the emergence and power of the Southeast Asian regional idea represents the most important response to date to Martin Lewis and Kären Wigen's call (in the Myth of Continents) for a vigorous reexamination of the metageographical notions we use to make sense of the world.