ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the practice of the social construction of post-conflict spaces that both reflect and help to reproduce hegemonic power relations. It focuses on the spatio-temporal processes of militarizing the civilian society and the identification of physical, economic, social, and political interactions between local civilians and US military forces on the island, leading to a geo-historical illustration of the processes of militarization. The most useful way to understand the complex processes of militarization in postwar Okinawa is to look at the Central District, in particular the Kadena Air Base (KAB) and environs. Economic processes comprise the economic changes of a host society spurred by the presence of a military base. The chapter explores what kind of impact US overseas military forces can have on a host society and how they drastically reconstruct its socio-economic composition.
