From Unincorporated Territory [Lukao] - by Craig Santos Perez (Paperback)

About the Book

The fourth installment in the Chamorro poet's series on the history, ecology, and mythology of Guam

Book Synopsis

from unincorporated territory [lukao] is the fourth book in native Chamorro poet Craig Santos Perez's ongoing series about his homeland, the Western Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam), and his current home, Hawai?i. He utilizes eco-poetic, decolonial, diasporic, indigenous, documentary, epic, and avant-garde modes to weave stories of creation, birth, migration, food sovereignty, and parenting. This work not only protests the devastating impacts of colonialism, militarism, and environmental injustice across the Pacific, it also expresses a vision of a sustainable and hopeful future.

Review Quotes

"Native Chamorro poet Santos Perez unveils the fourth book in his series about his homeland, Guåhan (Guam), and his current home, Hawaii. He utilizes eco-poetic, decolonial, diasporic, indigenous, documentary, epic, and avant-garde modes to weave stories of creation, birth, migration, food sovereignty, and parenting."--Alex Crowley "Publishers Weekly" (1/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"In his latest book, Perez explores his fears as a parent raising a child in an era of climate change and militarization in the Pacific. But he's also hopeful that being raised in Hawaii will teach her about indigenous rights, environmentalism and the demilitarization movement."--Courtney Teague "Honolulu Civil Beat" (1/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"Over the past decade, Craig Santos Perez has engaged in a relentless poetic exploration of the history, geography, people, and political implications of his native Guam in a series of books he calls from incorporated territory. This fourth installment moves beyond verbal means, adding maps, typographical experiments, a glossary, and visual art, pushing at our notions of what qualifies as a text and as a border (wheredoislandsbeginandend he asks). Perez continues to speak out as an imperative voice from and for a largely unacknowledged part of the American empire."--Craig Morgan Teicher "Publishers Weekly" (1/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"Centered on the birth of his daughter, this collection is first and foremost a family story and creation tale, albeit one in which the details of Guam's ecological and cultural degradation, American militarism and capitalism, and the diaspora of the Chamorro people and language continue to play an important part."--Alex Crowley "Publishers Weekly" (1/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ, a native Chamorro from the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam), co-edited three anthologies of Pacific literature and authored three poetry books: from unincorporated territory [hacha] (2008), from unincorporated territory [saina] (2010, PEN Center USA/Poetry Society of America Literary Prize recipient), and from unincorporated territory [guma'] (2014, American Book Award recipient). He holds an MFA from the U of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawai?i, Manoa.