Filipino Migration, Chamorro Indigeneity, and the Making of America’s Pacific Empire, 1898-1997
In order to understand the history of the American Republic, historians have to consider how the United States maintains and governs its own colonial territories located far beyond the continental United States. Thus, my dissertation explores the history of United States involvement in the Pacific and in particular the island territory of Guam. I ask how does the institution of the US military facilitate inequalities between Filipino immigrants and indigenous Chamorro peoples within the island throughout the 20th century. In doing so, I shed light on the ways that United States colonialism continues to exist and how peoples at the margins of the American Republic geographic and political fight inequities within the United States.