The work of empire : war, occupation, and the making of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines / Justin F. Jackson.

Contents Questions of labor: making war, colonialism, and sovereignty in the US empire of 1898 -- Occupied constantly and worked to death: military intermediaries and the political economy of counterinsurgency -- Bearing the white man's burdens: scientifically managing sovereignty and subaltern labor -- An army of workmen: the "polista" politics of military-colonial public works -- Always through the datto: building roads and subcontracted sovereignty in Mindanao and Pinar del Río -- The Chinese experiment: race, labor, and migration in the army's empire of exclusion -- Military necessities: reproducing sovereignty in the colonial sexual economy of war -- The days of the empire: forgetting legacies of war's work in the 1898 era.
Abstract "In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict, yet its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in Cuba and the Philippines over the next fifteen years. Despite its lack of experience in colonial administration, the army also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands. How did the relatively small and inexperienced army succeed in managing the day-to-day operations in its new territories? The US military depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos to fight its wars and do the work of civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled US foreign rule by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex to, and performing numerous other labors for American troops. In The Work of Empire, Justin Jackson reveals how their work disrupted the islands' older political, economic, and cultural hierarchies in ways that endured in postwar and post-occupation 'civilian' regimes. Jackson offers new ways to understand not only the rise of US military might but also how this power influenced a globalizing imperial world"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
LCCN 2024045134
ISBN9781469660318 (cloth)
ISBN1469660318 (cloth)
ISBN9781469660325 (paperback)
ISBN1469660326 (paperback)
ISBN(epub)
ISBN(pdf)

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Joyner General Stacks F970 .J33 2025 ✔ Available Place Hold