"Empire of Love: Histories of France and the Pacific" by Matt K. Matsuda

In this broad-ranging survey of Paris, Tahiti, Indochina, Japan, New Caledonia, and the South Pacific generally, Matt Matsuda illustrates the fascinating interplay that shaped the imaginations of both colonizer and colonized.

Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Matsuda describes the constitution of a "French Pacific" through the eyes of Tahitian monarchs, Kanak warriors, French politicos and prisoners, Asian revolutionaries and Central American laborers, among others.


Author argues that French imperialism in the Pacific, both real and imagined, was registered most forcefully in languages of desire and love –for lost islands, promised wealth and riches, carnal and spiritual pleasures– and political affinities.
Exploring the conflicting engagements with love for and against the empire in the Pacific, this book is an imaginative and ground-breaking work in global imperial and colonial histories, as well as Pacific histories.


Table of Contents

Empire of Love: Histories of France and the Pacific
1 Rochefort: The Family Romance of the French Pacific
2 Panama: Geopolitics of Desire
3 Wallis and Futuna: Martyrs and Memories
4 Society Islands: Tahitian Archives
5 New Caledonia: Prisoners of Love
6 Indochina: Romance of the Ruins
7 Japan: The Tears of Madame Chrysanthème
The Lost Continent
Notes
Index