American Studies Program Graduate Students

Johanna Almiron is in the doctoral program of American Studies, specializing in the fields of visual culture and black cultural studies. Research interests include performance, popular culture, race, representation, Asian Pacific American studies, Filipino American studies, museum studies, jazz studies, queer and feminist theory, poetry and social movements. Her dissertation topic focuses on reading the prolific work of iconic visual artist of eighties fame, Jean-Michel Basquiat with the 2005 retrospective exhibition "Basquiat” as the point of departure. Almiron is currently conducting independent research on black satirical performance in relation to contemporary art at Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU as an alumnus of the Master’s program. Recently awarded with a graduate alumni fellowship, Almiron returns to Oberin College (BA in African American Studies, Fine Arts-Dance) for the third time as a featured speaker to address art and activism among students of color. Almiron is also an award-winning performance artist, director and radio deejay. Her popular KTUH show was titled “Prince, Makadangdang & The Revolution."

Keola Awong was born and raised on the Big Island. She received her BA in Anthropology with a minor in Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. She is currently in the Master’s program and is interested in Museum Studies and Historic Preservation. Keola works at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Cultural Resources Management. She commutes from the Big Island every week to attend classes at Manoa.

Cheryl Beredo is a student in the PhD program. Her interests include United States colonialism, U.S.-Philippine relations, and archival studies. She holds degrees from Cornell University (AB, English and Women's Studies) and the University of Pittsburgh (MLIS, Archival Studies). In addition to being an East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellow, she has received many prestigious fellowships, including Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, Fulbright-Hays Groups Projects Aborad Program Fellowship, and Smithsonian Institution Graduate Student Fellowship.

Corinne Bolle is interested in mass media, children’s literature, Asian American and Native American/Native Hawaiian studies. Corinne was born and raised in Basel, Switzerland before moving to the United States. She received her BA in American Studies from Eckerd College in Florida, with minors in Anthropology and Asian Studies. She is currently working on her dissertation on the age and gender bias in Hollywood in which she will also address the racial and gender stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood. She returned to Switzerland to finish her dissertation, where she hopes to work in publishing or television and eventually teaching.

Joshua Capp was born and raised just across the border from Chicago, Illinois in Schererville, Indiana. He came to the University of Hawai`i in 2004 and he received is BA in American Studies as well as a certificate in Ethnic Studies in 2007. He is currently working on his MA, pursuing his interest in censorship in music and the cultural significance of sexuality and violence in American popular culture, starting with the Parental Music Resource Center hearing in 1985. Upon completion of the MA program, he plans on entering a PhD program. He is also interested in the current American politics and foreign relations and actively participates as the University of Hawai`i Chapter Coordinator for Students for Barack Obama.

David Doolin is from Dublin, Republic of Ireland. After living all his life in Ireland, on graduating high school, he moved to England and earned a BA in English and Writing from the Manchester Metropolitan University. After graduating in 1998, he returned to Dublin, working as an aircraft mechanic and also in sales/management. He then lived and worked for a year as an English teacher in the northern Japanese prefecture of Akita (2000-1). He subsequently returned to graduate school and earned his Masters in American Studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 2002. After teaching for a year as a special needs teacher in one of the neediest areas of Dublin, he worked for a medical education company in Washington D.C. for 16 months before moving to Hawaii to join the PhD program in American Studies at UHM in August 2005. His interests include American Wars in relation to American identity, most significantly the Vietnam American war, in literature, film, and memorial. He is particularly interested in researching the significance of the American Revolution and its meanings for America/Americans in the long term.

Paulette Feeney received her BA in Religion, Carleton College, Northfield, MN; MA in Religious Studies/Family Counseling, Chicago Theological Seminary; MBA from the UH College of Business Administration; and MA in American Studies, University of Hawaii. She is currently a PhD candidate in American Studies, with research interests in American colonialism and visual culture, particularly as reflected in the shaping of Hawaii as tourist destination. From 1981 to 1993, Paulette worked as general manager of Dolphin Galleries, Inc and director of the Foundation Gallery in Lahaina, Maui. She has been a program specialist for the University of Hawaii Outreach College since 1993, responsible for planning and development of noncredit professional development, business, management, personal finance, language, visual arts, dance, cultural enrichment, and other special evening and weekend programs.

Joan Harper is a native of Northern California in the truest possible sense: she is a member of the Pomo and Coast Miwok tribes. She has a BS in Natural Resource Planning from Humboldt State University and a Master of City Planning degree from San Diego State University. Joan was a lecturer at Humboldt State for five years and has worked as a legislative analyst for the Honolulu City Council and as a land use, tribal, and city planner. She has a Certificate in Historic Preservation and an MA in American Studies from UH. She works as a private consultant providing research forproperties nominated to the State historic register and has scholarly interests in historic preservation, Native American women’s literature, and nature and landscape studies. Her dissertation will focus on the relationship between landscape and culture.

Sayaka Kawatake received her BA in Political Science from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan in 2005. After graduation, she worked on the US air base and later at local language school in Okinawa. She is currently a master’s student in American Studies and is also enrolled in the International Cultural Studies Certificate Program. She is a student affiliate at EWC. Her academic interests include US-Japan/Okinawa cultural relations, American conservative/right-wing thoughts and national identity, US militarism and militalization, and whiteness studies.

Angela Krattiger, originally from La Crosse, Wisconsin, is currently in the PhD program. She received her BA from Western Washington University in American Cultural Studies, with minors in Sociology and Women's Studies. She completed her MA in American Studies from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in Spring 2007 and her thesis examined the deployment of feminist discourse in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Her current research focuses on gender and politics, US foreign policy, popular culture, and militarism.

Chihiro Komine was born and raised in Okinawa, Japan. She graduated from the University of the Ryukyus with a BA in American literature and culture in 2000. At California State University, Fullerton, she studied American Studies and got an M.A. degree in 2003. Her areas of interest include: cross-cultural contact between post-WWII Okinawa and America; especially in terms of race and gender; cultural imperialism; and comparative studies of ethnic communities in Southern California and Hawaii.

Line-Noue M. Kruse was born and raised on the North Shore of O'ahu. Line' is currently working towards a PhD in the program. She received her MA in Public Administration/Public Policy with a focus on Growth Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a MA in American Studies from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She also received her BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Her research interests are U.S.-Pacific relations, post-colonial urbanization and the effects upon children's health and women, transparency of citizenship and issues of identity. Line teaches part-time at Brigham Young University-Hawai'i and volunteers with the female prison work furloughs in Honolulu.

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Valerie Lo is a PhD student in American studies. She has a BA from University of California Santa Cruz in American Studies and a minor in Legal Studies as well as a Master of Arts degree in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University. Valerie's academic interests include Asian American studies, 20th and 21st century American literature, and exposing the injustices in the garment industries as well as large corporations such as Wal-Mart. Outside of school, Valerie's interests include Aikido, cycling, and travel as well as spending time with her English Bulldog and tabby cat.

Minh-Hang Le grew up and went to school in Hanoi, Vietnam and Canberra, Australia. A doctoral candidate in this department, she is a former member of the English Department faculty of Hanoi National University. Hang’s scholarly interests focus on Asian-American relations and women’s lives–which also is the general topic of her doctoral dissertation.

Julie Rancilio received her BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After graduating, she moved to Seoul, South Korea and worked at Ewha Women’s University as a Public Speech and English composition teacher. She traveled extensively throughout Asia, including Tibet, China, Vietnam, and Nepal. She became interested in Korean history and culture in the early 1990s, well before the “Korean Wave” which started almost a decade later. She returned to the United States and completed her MA in Korean history at Bowling Green State University. She then received a Korea Foundation Fellowship and studied the language intensively at Yonsei University for one year. She recently entered the PhD program in American Studies where she hopes to continue to study the US-Korea relations

Melissa Rand was born and raised in the small town of East Canton, Ohio. She moved to Honolulu in 2002 and graduated from UH Manoa in 2005 with a BA in Art History. She has a large background in studio arts and painting, which she still occasionally dabbles in on the side. She has completed several museum internships, was a recipient of the Smithsonian's Minority Internship in 2004 and currently works for a museum in Honolulu. She is in the Master's program in American Studies. Her interests lie mainly with Museum Studies and issues of ethnic diversity and cultural representations in American museums but also with Asian American studies, race relations in America, and studies of children/people of multi-ethnic backgrounds.

Kristy Hisako Ringor, originally from Lihue, Kauai. Kristy received her BA from Oregon State University in June of 2000. Two weeks after graduation she packed up her car and four days later arrived in Washington, D.C. to serve a two year term as Communications Director for the U.S. Student Association. During her term with USSA Kristy worked on issues affecting access to higher education, such as financial aid, electoral reform, racial profiling, hate crimes and served as a founding committee member for the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition. She also worked closely with the USSA Foundation on the National Student Labor Day of Action and National Take Affirmative Action Day. Kristy's academic interests lie in sport and popular culture; and race and racism. Currently Kristy is working for the University of Hawai`i Sports Media Relations Office.

Scott Sidner has spent the majority of his life in Southwestern Colorado. After making his living as a mountaineering guide and competitive cyclist, he decided to return to college to earn his teaching license in Secondary Social Studies with an endorsement in E.S.L. Afterwards, Scott taught for six years in an alternative high school for at-risk youth in the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation border town of Cortez, Colorado. During the summers he instructed Japanese students in intensive English in order to prepare them for their freshmen year attending various American colleges and universities. Scott would like to continue teaching after his graduate studies are finished. He is interested in expanding his knowledge of American History by looking through the lens of its multicultural past. Scott also intends to research the history of American psychological beliefs towards the idea of wilderness.

Daniel Simon is working towards his PhD in the Department. He received a BA in English from Cal State Hayward in 2001. While furthering his academic career, Daniel has engaged his passions professionally working as a free-lance journalist and a professional musician. His interests include 20th century political and social history, American foreign policy, American satire, and American popular music. His dissertation focuses on American health policy and procedures with an emphasis on the political history of urban health and education.

Jason Sloan received his BA in Literature and Philosophy from Western Kentucky University. He is interested in African American literature, food and environmental sustainability, banned literature, cultural studies, and film. A full-time graduate student, he also cooks for an Italian restaurant during the weekends, exploring both the American (as well as his) interest in food, and the importance of buying local products

Aidan Smith is pursuing her PhD in the department. She recently returned to graduate studies following a career in journalism and public relations. Her current research interests focus on American memory and the attack on Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center and gendered representations of the “enemy”. She earned her undergraduate degree in American Studies at Columbia University and holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Florida.

Thomas Keali'iahonui Stone III (Pohaku) is a student who returned to further his education after years as a professional surfer and fifteen years in Ocean Rescue for the City and County of Honolulu. He completed a BA in Hawaiian Studies 1995 and went on to finish his MA in Pacific Island Studies and his Historic Preservation Certificate program in American Studies at UH -Manoa. He is currently enrolled in the American Studies MA program here at UHM and is looking forward to the completion of thesis during the summer session of 2005. The focus of his thesis is on the significance of traditional native sports, surfing in particular, as an American icon and how western concepts of such practices have impacted the traditional culture of the Hawaiian. As Tom puts it, the American Studies program has provided an opportunity for me, as a native, to contribute to our knowledge of native sports as a cultural phenomena that has had an astonishing effect on America and the world. As Tom pursues his MA he is also a Hawaiian Studies instructor at UH - Kapi'olani Community College. He has recently developed two new courses now offered at KCC as part of the Hawaiian Studies program there. The courses are the "History of Surfing - A Native Perspective" and "Traditional Ritualized Sports of Hawai'i". His goal is to complete the American Studies doctoral program here at UHM.

Wilma Sur received her BA and MA in History from the University of Hawaii in 1969 and 1973, respectively, and a JD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. She practiced law in California from 1979 to 1993, and currently practices in Hawaii, specializing in employment and commercial litigation. At present, she is the Chair of the Executive Committee for the Judiciary History Center, a museum dedicated to the history of law in Hawaii, and also serves on the Judiciary’s Rule 19 Committee which oversees judicial evaluations. Her interests include the dialectic between law and society and how the criminal justice system reacts to societal pressures.

Jeffrey Tripp is working towards a PhD in the department. He received a BS in History and Social Science from Southern Connecticut State University in 1994 and an MA in Asian Studies in 2002 from the University of Hawai‘i School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies focusing on the political and historical relationship between Korea and the United States. Prior to arriving in Hawai‘i in 2000 he worked for six years as a language instructor in South Korea. During that time he traveled extensively throughout Asia and furthered his interest in East Asian culture and American presence in the region, particularly Korea. He applied to the doctoral program in the American Studies department in order to further his research on the American presence in South Korea and how it influences cultural forms on the peninsula. He also received the Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation in 2005.

Sean Trundle is pursuing his PhD in the department. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he came of age during the Silicon Valley technology boom. After earning his BA from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, he worked as a project manager at a Web development firm and as a videogame reviewer. His interests include 20th century U.S. social history, popular culture and media studies. His current research focuses on the development of geek and nerd identities, particularly in their relation to gender, ethnicity, and the intersection of Japanese and American culture.

Amber Tyndzik grew up on the islands of Guam and O’ahu. She recently graduated from the Speech department at UH and is now enrolled in the Master’s program in American Studies. Her areas of interest include American and local politics, American colonialism, multiculturalism and ethnic identity. She hopes to continue her work in the field of education and is currently working with the University of Hawaii’s athletes at the Nagatani Academic Center.

Karyn (Mo) Wells is a PhD candidate in the program. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder and holds degrees in Ethnic Studies and Anthropology. Her thesis, “Due To Disease” explored the political and social elements of Anglo-American ideologies which served to incorporate the colonial polity in the project of colonization and ameliorate civilian responsibility for the physical violence of the American Indian genocide. Her research interests lie in American Indian Studies, Genocide, International Law, and the power laden structures of imperial linguistics. She is also active in the American Indian Movement and other social justice organizations.

Michelle Zacks is a doctoral student in the department and is pursuing the Museum Studies Certificate. She holds a BA in Literature and an MA in Latin American Studies. For many years, she has been conducting oral history and ethnographic research with people who fish for a living in Haiti and in various corners of the southeastern United States. Her dissertation will concern the culture, politics, and history of fishing in Florida in terms of how seascapes and waterfronts are configured physically and conceptually (increasingly, as sites of recreation, leisure, and aesthetic pleasure vs. productive sites for food and income), and how conservation discourses are implicated in this. Also of interest is the role of narrative in the formation of identities of people and place, and the social history of commodities, particularly food. She finds audio and other forms of documentary production compelling avenues for grappling with these interests.

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Sham Chitnavis was born in Bombay, India and grew up in India and Uganda. After graduating from college in India, he moved to the United States and earned an MA degree in American Studies from California State University at Fullerton. He received his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hawai`i in May 2005. is dissertation focused on Asian refugees from Uganda who have settled in Los Angeles–the "American El Dorado," he calls it–and their acculturation struggles. Sham has worked as a lecturer in the department and is planning a career in international diplomacy.

Ralph Thomas Kam received his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hawai`i in May 2005. His dissertation traces the history of the Honolulu Community-Media Council. He holds a master of arts degree in American Studies for the University ofHawaii at Manoa. His thesis was titled, "New Loyalties: The Role of Voluntary Associations in Forming a Just Society in Nineteenth Century." He has a degree in English and public relations from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America. His research interests include media accountability systems, press councils,voluntary association and ethics.

Jinzhao Li received her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hawaii in May 2005. Her research fields included Chinese diaspora studies, U.S. and China minority studies, gender studies, social stratification, civil soviety, and U.S.-China relationship. Her dissertation examined the construction of Chineseness in Hawaii through local Chinese cultural festivals and beauty contests in the past half a century. Her MA thesis traces the ideological and cultural making of a new middle class in China in the past two decades. Jinzhao was born and raised in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China during the Cultural Revolution. She got her BA in English Language and Literature and MA in American Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University during the opening and reform era. After her degree studies in the U.S., she willpursue a position that can best benefit U.S China relationship as well as China's globalization process. Jinzhao has settled in at Oberlin College to fulfill her visiting assistant position in Sociology and Comparative American Studies for the 2005-2006 acedemic year at Oberlin.

David Tokiharu Mayeda has an MA in American Studies from UH and received his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hawaii in August 2005. He worked as an Assistant Professor with the University of Hawaii Department of Psychiatry for two years and will start his new position with the University of Hawaii Department of Sociology as an Assistant Professor in August 2007. He will continue conducting research on violence prevention among Pacific Islander and Asian American adolescents in Hawaii and on mixed martial arts. Previously, he earned a BA in Comparative Culture, with a minor in sociology, from the University of California at Irvine. With specializations in ethnic and gender development among Asian American and Pacific Islander youth, juvenile justice prevention and intervention, and the sociology of sports, David describes himself as an advocate of "practical, hands-on research with and for non-academic community developers and activists." David’s dissertation examined ethnic and gender identity development among at-risk youth in Hawaii. In the meantime he already has published scholarly articles in The Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Youth & Society, The Journal of Poverty, AAPI Nexus, Social Thought & Research, and the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Stephanie Nohelani Teves is recent graduate of the MA program. Born and raised on O’ahu, she received her BA from the University of Hawai’i at Mänoa in Sociology and Women’s Studies. Her MA thesis was entitled, "Kill All the White Man: Youth Agency and Resistance in the Hawai'i Punk Scene". She is an explosive performer, both intoxicating and nauseating. Her current research focuses on contemporary first nation resistance music, performance in the pacific, and notions of hybridity within Native Hawaiian nationalism. Presently Ms. Teves is in the PhD program at the University of Michigan.

Constancio R. Arnaldo Jr. earned his MA in May 2006 where his primary fields of study included issues of race/racism, and Asian American Studies in general and Filipino/a American Studies in particular. Upon graduation, Constancio moved to southern California and taught at California State University, Long Beach in the Asian and Asian American Studies Department. He taught courses on Filipino/a American experiences, cultural production and Asian American contemporary issues. Currently, Constancio is a PhD student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research interests focus on the significance of Filipino martial arts among Filipino/a Americans -its relationship to empire and its intersections with race, gender and spirituality

Angela Martinelli received her MA in American Studies from UH (with a focus on the preservation of culture through the arts) May 2006 and her BA in Global Communications (with a specialization in Native American Semiotics/Dance Somatics) from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She has worked with numerous age groups and backgrounds to raise cultural awareness about racial discrimination through dance, art, music, theater, and photography. She has worked with numerous dance companies in New England and Hawaii, in such institutions as Harvard, Plymouth State, The Arts at Marks Garage, Upside Down Dance, Dance Complex, Green Street Studios, and Friends of the Arts. Her next endeavor is to pursue a PhD in Women’s Studies or a PsyD to explore the usage of the body to reestablish women’s identity.

Rob Vaughan received his PhD Fall 2007. Rob grew up in Washington, D.C. and lived for several years in San Francisco and the Bay Area before moving to Hawai`i in 1992. He studied at Diablo Valley College and the University of California at Berkeley. After a 15-year hiatus, which he spent working as a trucking dispatcher, furniture mover, and Teamster, he returned to academia, receiving his B.A. in American history from Hawai`i Pacific University. He has taught numerous courses as a lecturer in the department, as well as at Hawai`i Pacific University. In terms of research, his specializations are social history, American politics, documentary photography, racism, labor history, and the general subject of his dissertation, utopian movements in the U.S. In his dissertation, Rob is examining works by Edward Bellamy, Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Jack London, Ignatius Donnelly, Upton Sinclair, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and others in analyzing the ways in which late 19th and early 20th century "socialists, anarchists, religious leaders, businessmen, and a smattering of cranks & fools" proposed ways of re-ordering America as "the perfect place" especially in the world of work. He has won the epartment's Brown-Denney Award for academic excellence and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (Hawai`i) Award in history. This past year he was presented with the Graduate Division's Award for teaching excellence.

Jeffrey Lorenzo Perillo born into a Navy family in Honolulu, was raised in San Diego. After graduating from UC Berkeley (pre-med/BA Integrative Biology/minor in education), he took two years off to work in pediatrics, oncology and education fields. Lorenzo completed the MA in American Studies and a graduate certificate in International Cultural Studies at UH in Summer 2007. Having trained in hip-hop dance since the age of 16, Lorenzo explores dance performance sites in which Filipino American youth cultures intersect hip-hop cultures. He plays the dual role of artist and scholar, and in Hawaii has taught hip-hop to local youth, professionally performed hip-hop on tour with Henry Kapono, performed butoh with Iona Contemporary Dance Company, and Polynesian dance with the Magic of Polynesia. Lorenzo's other interests include spoken word, capoeira angola, and Philippine folk dance forms. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Culture and Performance with a concentration on Asian American Studies at UCLA.