Tryst Troppo: Sex, Tourism, and Relationships on a Philippine Beach

The small beachside town of Aplaya, Puerto Galera, on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines has a sex, beach, and diving tourist economy. Aplaya is considered a place of isolation, providing unspoiled tropical nature. Many foreign men discuss their desires for a Utopian paradise, a tropical beach that is imagined as uninhabited except for the necessary extras – the welcoming natives and compliant women. Foreign men depict the Philippines as a place where women are ordinarily sexually available, part of the natural excess of the tropics. This discourse of tropicality is here put into context with a discourse of decoloniality. The Philippines archipelago was colonised for over 400 years firstly by the Spanish, then by US colonisation, followed by Japanese occupation in WWII, and a return of the US until 1946 – after which post-colonial US influence continued. Despite this long and complex history, tourists who recount desires for a natural world and a nostalgia for a lost paradise in relation to the West help produce Aplaya as paradise found, rather than a particular version of paradise made. Amidst these ideas about natural women and traditional gender arrangements there are also ideas about the tropical natureculture, its natural state and cultural interventions. In Aplaya, a conflict is occurring between the development of sex tourism and environmental conservation through ecotourism. The domains of nature and culture, their articulation in the tropics, the environment, and development are produced and contested around this beach.

Militarizing Marriage: West African Soldiers’ Conjugal Traditions in Modern French Empire

Beyond the Quagmire: New Interpretations of the Vietnam War

BackgroundThree decades after US and Australian forces withdrew from Vietnam, there has been much public interest in the health consequences of service in Vietnam. One controversial question is whether the risk of prostate cancer amongst Vietnam veterans is increased. This paper examines relationships between military history, family history and risk of prostate cancer in a population-based case control study.MethodsCases were selected from the Cancer Registry of Western Australia as incident cases of histologically-confirmed prostate cancer, and controls were age-matched and selected from the Western Australian electoral roll. Study participants were asked to report any military service history and details about that service.ResultsBetween January 2001 and September 2002, 606 cases and 471 controls aged between 40–75 years were recruited. An increased prostate cancer risk was observed in men reporting they were deployed in Vietnam although this was not statistically significant (OR = 2.12; 95% CI 0.88–5.06). An increased risk was also observed in men reporting prostate cancer in fathers (OR = 1.90; 95% CI 1.20–3.00) or brothers (OR = 2.05; 95% CI 1.20–3.50) diagnosed with prostate cancer.ConclusionThese findings support a positive association between prostate cancer and military service history in the Vietnam war and a first degree relative family history of prostate cancer.

Scuba diving tourism is one of the tourism products that contributes to Malaysia's economic returns. There are three main issues underlying this research problem, namely the validity of Pangkor Island as a scuba diving tourism destination in Malaysia, the confusion about Pangkor Island's actual status as a scuba diving tourism destination in Malaysia based on tourism agency promotions and souvenir sales, and past studies conducted by local scholars. To obtain validity, several stakeholders were made respondents of the study, namely foreign tourists, local residents, and resort entrepreneurs. This study aims to identify the characteristics of tourist attractions on Pangkor Island based on the perceptions of foreign tourists and local communities, examine the involvement of local communities in tourism development, and the level of their knowledge about scuba diving tourism. Furthermore, it examines whether this activity is a characteristic attraction that drives international tourists to visit Pangkor Island based on the stated attraction characteristics and the scuba diving activity service offerings by hotel and resort entrepreneurs there. This study uses a quantitative approach and is supported by a qualitative approach. The research methods used are face-to-face interviews using questionnaires, observations, and in-depth interviews. The study's findings on 125 foreign tourists, 179 local communities, and 42 hotels and resorts show that Pangkor Island is not relevant as a scuba diving destination. All three stakeholders gave negative responses to this research problem. For foreign tourists, the main attraction stated is the beach and the sea, as well as the attractive natural environment, which is 71.4%. Local community interviews showed that Pangkor Island is not popular as a scuba diving destination, which is 52.0%, and resort analysis found that scuba diving package offerings are only offered by four out of 42 resorts and hotels on the island, and only if there is demand. The study's findings indicate that scuba diving is not popular as a tourist attraction there. Therefore, this study's findings reject the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) statement that places Pangkor Island as a scuba diving tourism destination. In conclusion, this research contributes to the academic discipline, particularly in service geography and tourism, and policy makers such as the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism.

Goa’s military history, and to some extent its history of violence, cannot be readily linked to its present incarnation as a laid-back tourist haven. But in fact, Goa does have a rather peculiar military and developmental history that explains its present. The literature survey shows that the diverse Portuguese military and colonial history towards and after the turn of the millennium is still uneven but has become more sophisticated. This introductory chapter lays certain bases for the message of the entire book, i.e., the military history of the Portuguese in Goa was nothing like that of their larger British counterpart in India; it was a case study in weakness rather than of a hegemon. The chapter also lays out the outline of the subsequent chapters, which trace the evolution of the Portuguese colonial force in India and the conflicts it engaged in during the transition from the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.KeywordsMilitary historyIndiaPortugueseGoaGlobalization

This study proposed a sustainable green tourism business support program for White Beach, Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro as assessed by hotels and resorts’ owners/managers/staff and tourists. This utilized a descriptive research design and employed survey questionnaires as the main data-gathering instrument for this study. It determined the extent of manifestation of green tourism practices. This study was carried out in select DOT accredited hotels and resorts around White Beach, Puerto Galera, and Oriental Mindoro. The respondents was composed of 177 composed of 49 foreign tourists, 51 local tourists from the host community such as local residents, LGU, Local Tourism Office, NGOs/POs, DOT-MIMAROPA, and 77 hotels and resorts owners, managers, and staff. The researcher used survey questionnaires for data gathering. Results revealed that hotels and resorts’ owners, managers, and staff; and local and foreign tourists equally see the extent of manifestation of green tourism practices. Hotels and resorts should adopt energy-saving technologies and practices to reduce their environmental impact. This can include investing in energy-efficient equipment and appliances, implementing energy management systems, and raising awareness among staff and guests about the importance of energy conservation. Engaging with energy conservation experts and organizations can provide guidance on effective energy-saving strategies and technologies specific to the hospitality industry.

War and memory are interrelated and it represents a verisimilitude approach through the presentation of distinction among legitimate history, intellectual history and the military histories of the war (written history of armed forces, journalist). In the history of War, there are natural tendencies of legitimate historians to hide the discursive history of war (from ground zero) from the ordinary people. Most of time, the physical and psychological pain of battalions during the war , their agony, trauma and frustrations are not penned down and people of the nations(defeated and triumph nations) are unaware of the true history of ground zero. In this paper, I would like to analysis American War on Vietnam through the work of Tim O’Brien. Vietnam War is also known as “War against the Americans to save the Nation” or “American War in Vietnam”. Tim O’Brien is an American novelist and he contributes in the war. He has ranked as a sergeant in military. His semi-autobiographical novel, Things They Carried points out his experiences in the Vietnam War. It is an empathetic, as well as, fictional account of nonfictional story of American soldiers through the jungles of Vietnam. It is a story of loss and love, guilt and fear. In War, soldiers carry their necessary things (physical objects) like matches, Morphine, M-16 Rifles and Candy. After the War, they bring grief, terror, guilt, confusion and the brutality of War as a return gift. After life of War, each soldiers’ physical loss underscores under emotional loss. In this memoir, Tim O’Brien delineates how soldiers carry heavy physical and psychological loads in the War.

SummaryA career of ethnographic and political work in the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was sparked by a desire to atone for having fought in the United States’ colonial war in Vietnam. This article explores the question of whether pursuing atonement via ethnographic work in itself constitutes a form of colonial exploitation.

Ocean Passages: Navigating Pacific Islander and Asian American Literatures

Reviewed by: The Vietnam War William Thomas Allison The Vietnam War. By James E. Westheider. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-313-33755-0. Maps. Photographs. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xxiv, 217. $65.00. Greenwood Press is well known for its exceptional reference works and scholarly series. The American Soldiers’ Lives project of Greenwood’s Daily Life through History series wonderfully fits this tradition. The latest volume in the project, The Vietnam War, by James E. Westheider, is a well written, thoroughly researched book that both students and scholars will find useful as a resource on the day-to-day experience of the Vietnam War. Westheider, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati-Clermont College, has written extensively on Vietnam, especially the African-American experience in the war, including Fighting on Two Fronts: African-Americans and the Vietnam War (1997) and The African-American Experience in Vietnam: Brothers in Arms (2008). The American Soldiers’ Lives project explores the very reasonable questions of what do soldiers go through in war and why do they do it. The hardships, the tedious boredom, and the extreme danger are sufficient to dissuade even the most ardent patriot, and yet draftees, volunteers, and professionals have served in conflicts across human history. Westheider pursues these questions in an organized and thorough manner that provides snapshots into a wide range of soldiers’ experiences in the Vietnam War. After a brief overview of the conflict, Westheider looks at recruitment, especially the draft, training for both enlisted personnel and officers, and the variety of duties and jobs performed in Vietnam. Life in [End Page 1331] the field and the combat experience gets due attention, with interesting discussions on food and nutrition, the USO, and the black market, among many other issues. Then, Westheider examines issues of concern to soldiers both during and after the war, including military justice, combat refusals, and returning home. Throughout the book, Westheider is mindful of race, ethnicity, and gender, and skillfully uses these as lenses to delineate among experiences. He also utilizes good context, showing how the same issue could be experienced differently depending upon the phase of the war in which it occurred. While the book primarily focuses on the American experience, the author does take advantage of recent work on the Vietnamese (both North and South) experience in the war, which for students provide much needed points of comparison for students. Westheider uses a range of sources, both primary and secondary, though some might find David Hackworth cited more than needed, in view of the great wealth of material on the Vietnam experience that is available. The strength of the book is its balance. Considering he offers multiple snapshots on so many issues, Westheider does a fine job of giving equal treatment to them across the book. Those looking for a good resource on the day-to-day experience of the Vietnam era soldier will find Westheider’s work most satisfactory and useful to their research. Undergraduate history majors will find this book particularly helpful. Good maps and appropriate photographs round out the book, and the bibliography, though not exhaustive, is suitable for a student resource. The cost of the book is prohibitive for classroom use, but make sure the library has a copy for reserve reading lists for courses on Vietnam and military history. William Thomas Allison Georgia Southern University Statesboro, Georgia Copyright © 2008 Society for Military History

The Annales School and the History of War Peter Paret (bio) The Annales School: An Intellectual History. By André Burgière. Translated by Jane Marie Todd. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8014-4665-8. Notes. Selected bibliography. Index. Pp. xiv, 309. $45.00. Among the hard knocks military history in this country suffered in the late 1950s and ’60s was the criticism by American historians who had come under the influence of the Annales School. The sophisticated, powerful theses of French academics, who had created a quasi-institutional movement under a common label borrowed from the title of the review originally named Annales d’histoire économique et sociale, were soon imported into the United States, where their new adherents, linking up somewhat haphazardly with Marxist and other scholars pursuing the new interest in social history, criticized accepted historical approaches and proposed new ones. In an academic climate poisoned by the war in Vietnam, military history almost inevitably became a major target. The rejection of narrative history by followers of the Annales School struck at one of military history’s most representative forms. The coupled assertion that history was not to teach adherence to a set of political principles or foster pride in a movement or tradition—Lucien Febvre, one of the founders of the group, declared, “A history that is of service is a servile history”—denied a perspective that guided important segments of this country’s vast enterprise of official service histories and accounts of the wars in which American forces had fought. In the clash of opinions, the more enthusiastic partisans on both sides could forget that the program of the Annales was not, after all, a monolithic doctrine, and that [End Page 1289] not every one of its proposals for doing history was necessarily new, but belonged to the broad recognition after the First World War That an exclusive concentration on political history was rather misleading, that. . . to understand an epoch the historian had to analyze its religious beliefs and intellectual values and movements, the economic conditions, and the structure of social life. [S]uch views. . .were not original, but it was significant that in the period after World War 1 the advocates of such a broadened concept of history became the acknowledged leaders of historical scholarship.1 Not only the intentions themselves but also the intellectually and rhetorically impressive manner in which they were combined gave the Annales School its impact on various, sometimes conflicting, trends toward a “new” history. The publication in English of André Burguière’s The Annales School: An Intellectual History provides an occasion to consider the influence the movement’s ideas had—and continue to have—on military history in this country. Translated into clear if at times deceptively abstract English by Jane Marie Todd, with an informative, evenhanded foreword by Timothy Tackett, the book does not give a detached analysis of the Annales’ intellectual program. Rather it is an account by one of its members, a historian of the French ancien régime, of the group’s ideas and writings, from the founding of the journal in the 1920s by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre to recent days. As Professor Tackett writes, although “a very personal history. . . [its author] retains a remarkable detachment and balance in his assessments.”2 He enables the reader to trace the development of core ideas of the Annales School, and to note how individual scholars adapted them to suit their own interests and concerns. As always, the unity, even uniformity, that some followers of intellectual movements seem to want and need, unravels on closer inspection into various opinions and styles—a many-faceted composite that with its complexities and occasional contradictions is entirely appropriate to the discipline of history, which however scientific its methods may have become, remains a discipline in the humanities. Whatever the variations and changes in thinking of the Annales’ adherents over time, the group’s greatest impact in this country followed its founders’ demand that not only theoretically but in questions posed and interpretations developed historians should recognize “the close relationship between political order, social structure, mentality, feelings and ideas.”3 At first glance these words...

The Guys in the Rear, with the Beer Kara Dixon Vuic (bio) Meredith H. Lair . Armed with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. xviii + 295 pp. Figures, tables, map, notes, bibliography, and index. $34.95. My uncle rarely mentions his tour of duty in Vietnam. As kids, my cousins and I were warned not to ask him about it, but there was one story we all knew—while stationed in Chu Lai, he saved his pay, perused a manufacturer's catalog, and ordered a car. It was a sporty 1968 Chevelle SS 396, and it was waiting for him in rural Kentucky when he got home. This story seemed strange to me, somehow incongruous with what I thought war was supposed to be. Were men really able to shop for and purchase such lavish items while in a war zone? According to Meredith H. Lair's expansive study Armed with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the Vietnam War, my uncle's sports car was only one small part of the U.S. military's efforts to placate soldiers with morale-boosting consumer goods. While the mythology of wars from the Revolution to the present day privileges narratives of deprivation and austerity that allow Americans to understand war as a reluctant undertaking conducted by sacrificial citizen-soldiers, Lair argues that, for most troops stationed in Vietnam, the myth bore little resemblance to reality. In her reframing of the Vietnam War landscape, soldiers enjoyed a "degree of comfort unparalleled in military history" that was born of mid-century consumerism, growing military bureaucratization, the increasing privatization of warfare, and most especially, the military's attempts to exchange goods and comfort for compliant service (p. 8). Shot from the vantage point of the PX (post exchange), dining hall, service club, and even the bowling alley, Lair's work offers a probing look at a neglected part of the American war effort, challenges popular images of soldiering and warring, and introduces new questions and sources for scholars to consider. From the outset, Lair's work differs from the standard narrative of the Vietnam War in that it focuses predominantly on the experiences of the majority of soldiers who served in noncombatant positions. Between seventy-five and ninety percent of soldiers served in support roles and lived relatively comfortably on large bases where they enjoyed fixed living quarters, plentiful [End Page 140] and varied meals, a fairly regular work schedule, and easy access to recreation facilities and the PX. As the war effort mushroomed, the bases that housed them grew to unprecedented proportions. For example, Long Binh Post, the largest American base in South Vietnam, included the headquarters of the U.S. Army Vietnam, the Army Chaplaincy, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Judge Advocate General's Office, a sixteen-bus transportation route, two miniature golf courses, a skeet range, twelve swimming pools, eighty-one basketball courts, sixty-four volleyball courts, three football fields, and a go-cart track. While some of the amenities—such as Red Cross clubs, libraries, and the basic athletic facilities—would have been familiar to soldiers in earlier wars, the sheer number and variety of venues speak volumes about the American war effort in Vietnam and highlight a stark contrast in the experiences of combat and noncombat soldiers that is seldom acknowledged in narratives of the war. Although many soldiers appreciated the comfort and security of their rearward posts, others expressed dissatisfaction that they did not face the trying circumstances they expected, and they deplored their lost opportunity to prove themselves men. And while Lair points out that the dangers of the war could come to any place at any moment, she finds that soldiers understood the line between the front and the rear as a straightforward distinction between those who had and those who had not. Indicative of their contempt for such disparities, combat personnel employed the derisive term REMFs ("rear echelon motherfuckers") for the clerks, plumbers, electricians, social workers, and other personnel who lived and labored on bases with showers, private bunks, televisions, and, occasionally, even air conditioning. More than just a reference to wildly different experiences, however, the...

Most of us are familiar with the narrative of the Vietnam War as it is commonly told in history textbooks: (1) the United States got involved because they were afraid of the possibility of a domino effect of Southeast Asian countries falling to communism; (2) there was a huge public outcry back in the United States as American casualties increased dramatically and the horrors of war were shown in every home; (3) the US eventually withdrew its troops; and (4) North and South Vietnam were reunited. But in this unjustifiably sketchy summary of the typical portrayal of the Vietnam War, it is evident that most students of history only look at materials that, ironically, the losers of this war provide. American versions of these historical events often point to the failings of the South Vietnamese regime (the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem), the failed US containment policy or domestic opposition as the reasons behind the fall of Vietnam. Associate Professor Ang Cheng Guan’s work will be of interest to teachers seeking to look beyond the history textbook in enriching students’ understanding of the Vietnam War. Currently the Head of the Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Dr Ang’s research interests include international history of the Vietnam War and post-World War II Southeast Asia. He has written and published extensively on the subject of the Vietnam War, including The Vietnam War from the Other Side: The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective (2002), and its sequel, Ending the Vietnam War: The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective (2004). He has also published another book titled Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War (2010). Dr Ang’s book, The Vietnam War from the Other Side: The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective, analyzes the Vietnamese struggle for independence. The book follows and “attempts to re-construct the evolution of decision-making on the communist side of the Vietnam War, particularly between the years 1954 to 1969, and to show the progression of the Vietnamese communists’ struggle from one that was essentially political in nature to a full-scale war” (Ang, 2002, p. 4). The Vietnam War from the Other Side examines the motivations and process behind the decisions taken by the Communists during the planning and execution of the armed confrontation with the United States. It also analyzes the changing relations between Hanoi, Moscow and Beijing and its influence on the strategic decisions taken by the Vietnamese communists in their struggle for reunification (Ang, 2002). This book provides an alternative to the perspective that is available in most history textbooks. Students of history need to understand the communist perspective so that they can better analyze events, issues, and personalities in light of the full evidence available. In particular, The Vietnam War from the Other Side contributes to students’ understandings of the Vietnam War as a struggle for independence and reunification by the Vietnamese. This will add to what students already can gather from history textbooks, which tend to focus more on the regime in South Vietnam or America’s containment policy in Southeast Asia.

Columbia History of the Vietnam War edited by David L. Anderson New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2010 488 pages $65.00 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the preface of this book, David L. Anderson states that his aim is provide a reliable historical perspective on the Vietnam War to advance accurate scholarship and sound policymaking, while demonstrating that the war has striking relevance to contemporary issues and challenges. In pursuit of this goal, the editor provides a collection of essays on the Vietnam War by fourteen of the most recognized and acclaimed scholars of the war; the essays focus on the political, historical, military, and social issues that defined this controversial conflict and its continuing impact on the United States and Vietnam. Anderson, professor of history at California State University, Monterey Bay, and former president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations is eminently qualified to preside over this retrospective; his ten earlier books include Trapped by Success: Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam, Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War, and Facing My Lai: Moving Beyond the Massacre. Anderson opens the book with a short and concise overview of the Vietnam War that addresses the war's major moments and explores some of its major themes. He begins with a discussion of early Vietnamese history, French colonialism, the First Indochina War, and a focus on the American war in Vietnam. author presents the historical antecedents of American involvement in Southeast Asia and continues through the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Anderson closes the introductory essay with a discussion of The War That Will Not Go Away, addressing a number of topics, such as American Vietnam veterans, the war in film and literature, and American foreign policy in the aftermath of the war. This brief introduction sets the stage for the essays that follow. book is divided into three sections. first section takes a chronological approach to discussing the war. Mark Philip Bradley provides a reexamination of Vietnamese revolutionary nationalism and the Vietminh-led war against the French. Richard H. Immerman looks at nation-building efforts and relations with the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in South Vietnam during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Gary R. Hess examines America's military commitment under Kennedy and Johnson, enumerating eight steps made during these administrations that deepened the American commitment. Lloyd C. Gardner discusses the motivations behind Johnson's escalation of force. Robert J. …