What Is in a Rim?

This pathbreaking, multidisciplinary work challenges our unthinking acceptance of such terms as 'Asia Pacific' and 'Pacific Rim.' Revealing the hidden power relationships and hegemonic struggles that are disguised by ideological constructions of the region, the contributors uncover fundamental contradictions that underlie the much-celebrated economic boom. The book shifts our focus from abstract relationships between capital and commodities to the human interactions that the contributors agree constitute the region, rather than any physical boundaries. This revised and updated edition brings in additional essays focusing on conceptualizations of the Pacific, considers more fully interactions among countries, and strongly emphasizes peoples inhabiting the region, who are so often overlooked in most discussions of the 'Rim.'

Part 1 Introduction: Pacific as Concept and Fantasy Chapter 2 Pacific Contradictions Chapter 3 The Asia-Pacific Idea: Reality and Representation in the Invention of a Regional Structure Chapter 4 The Asia-Pacific Idea as a Mobilization Myth Chapter 5 Rimspeak, or, The Discourse of the "Pacific Rim" Chapter 6 On the Outs on the Rim: An Ethnographic Grounding of the "Asia-Pacific" Imaginary Part 7 The Political Economy of the Pacific Chapter 8 The Northeast Asian Political Economy Chapter 9 Global Sourcing and Regional Divisions of Labor in the Pacific Rim Chapter 10 Market Dependency in U. S. -East Asian Relations Chapter 11 China's Growing Integration with the Asia-Pacific Economy Chapter 12 Sexual Economies in the Asia-Pacific Community Part 13 Pacific Social and Cultural Formations Chapter 14 Latin America in Asia-Pacific Perspective Chapter 15 The Asia-Pacific in Asian-American Perspective Chapter 16 Pacific Island Responses to U. S. and French Hegemony Chapter 17 Blue Hawaii: Bamboo Ridge as Critical Regionalism Chapter 18 There Is More in the Rim than Meets the Eye: Thoughts on the "Pacific Idea"