Navigating an Ocean of Mili-Tourism

Abstract

How do we define this waterscape that we border known as the Pacific Ocean? Is it a vast and empty space? How do we move forward from this limiting imagination? Historically, we have used literature and media to portray the Pacific Islands as peaceful, desolate, and passive, which has aided in the historical process of colonization that still persists today in the Pacific region through U.S. militarization and tourism. While it may seem that these two industries are inherently separate entities, they have co-evolved to become one through “militourism”: a phenomenon, coined by Teresia Teaiwa, in which these industries enable each other to continue displacing and silencing Native Pacific peoples, desecrating sacred spaces and land, controlling Native bodies (human and non-human), and much more. This microfilm will attempt to change mindscapes: inviting audiences to reconceptualize the Pacific Islands and introducing viewers to Pasifika sovereignty and histories such as the effects of militarization and tourism on these communities.

References

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