Asia pacific urban hubs

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Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss the unique situation of two urban hub centers that house 70 percent of the population in the Marshall Islands of Oceania. One called Ebeye, often referred to as “The Slum of the Pacific,” and the other Majuro, often referred to as “Majuro Mejen Armij,” being Majuro is the face and eyes of the people. At first glance, one sees pollution written in both Ebeye and Majuro where military and capitalism literally spell out MADE IN USA in the military dominated Asia Pacific region. The deplorable conditions on Ebeye and on certain parts of Majuro makes one wonder why the passive conformity to the great red, white, and blue who have these people treaty bound. Yet, one fails to understand how Fanon’s concept of symbolic resistance takes form under the veil of conformity to this enmeshment into the informal empire of globalization. Leading modernity theorist such as Foucault have argued through a historical Eurocentric lens that modernity involves a twin swiftly moving process centered on the constructs of truth and power. For Pacific states that are treaty bound and have inhabited a wealth of neocolonial legacies, it becomes increasingly apparent from experience why the effects of globalization are felt at their home fronts. While truth is embedded in Foucoult’s argument, Pacific leaders such has Kabua have contextualized the global context to better suit their needs stating that the latter half of the 20th century and early parts of the 21st century have been characterized by the simultaneous operation of twin swiftly moving universal process where on one hand, there is evidence of the human capacity for wider affection and loyalty where constructive forces are forging increasing interdependence and integration, while on the other hand, the fomentation of conflicts and persecution along religious, ethnic, gender, and political lines continue to thrive unabated indicating an entrenched mindset that puts ethnicity and nation state above all else,frustrating efforts to universal peace and unity leading oppressed regimes and peoples to resist. This paper explores the various counter hegemonic strategies undergone in the urban centers of Ebeye and Majuro to nationalize efforts to repudiate ill informed notions of conformity and reassert the notion of camaraderie and joint collaborative effort, some under the guise of conformity, in a situational effort to improve ones self in the global arena based on obvious circumstance.


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Asia pacific urban hubs by Desmond Narain Doulatram - Issuu