As the enduring "last frontier," Alaska proves an indispensable
context for examining the form and function of American
colonialism, particularly in the shift from western continental
expansion to global empire. In this richly theorized work, Juliana
Hu Pegues evaluates four key historical periods in U.S.-Alaskan
history: the Alaskan purchase, the Gold Rush, the emergence of
salmon canneries, and the World War II era. In each, Hu Pegues
recognizes colonial and racial entanglements between Alaska Native
peoples and Asian immigrants. In the midst of this complex
interplay, the American colonial project advanced by differentially
racializing and gendering Indigenous and Asian peoples,
constructing Asian immigrants as "out of place" and Alaska Natives
as "out of time." Counter to this space-time colonialism, Native
and Asian peoples created alternate modes of meaning and belonging
through their literature, photography, political organizing, and
sociality.
Offering an intersectional approach to U.S. empire, Indigenous
dispossession, and labor exploitation, Space-Time
Colonialism makes clear that Alaska is essential to
understanding both U.S. imperial expansion and the machinations of
settler colonialism.