CONTEMPORARY COLONIALISM: OKINAWA EXPERIENCES OF U.S. MILITARY OCCUPATION
Social Sciences
Environmental Studies
ABSTRACT: This thesis uses Okinawa, Japan as a case study to explore U.S. military occupation as a form of colonization through the food practices of contemporary Okinawans. Recognizing the ways military occupation influences ecological and cultural changes in host countries, I discuss the nexus between colonialism, military occupation, and food sovereignty. Drawing on a mixed method approach that included two summers of fieldwork and data collection that spanned archival research, participant observations, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, food and activity journals, and ethnographic field journals, I incorporate the ways local people struggle against, suffer from, resist or adapt to foreign colonization and occupation. By doing so, I emphasize the importance of research that bridges current scholarship about military occupation and food sovereignty that can not only contextualize case studies such as Okinawa, but can also propel the kinds of movements and policies that reflect the complex struggles and realities of diverse members of Okinawan society.
