No. 4 October-December 2000
Contents:
2001 Pacific Symposium at
New York University
Pacific Second Language Research Forum
FLAS Fellowship Competition
Pacific Studies 2000: Wrap-up
UHM Library News
In Memoriam: Charles Lamoureux
Norman Meller Award at UHM
Finney and Kelly Retire
Report on Samoan Language Commission
Eighth Festival of Pacific Arts
Oceania on the Move
Pacific Films at HIFF 2000
PIC Media Fund 2000 Awards
Visitors
Occasional Seminars
Faculty Activities
Students and Alumni
The Contemporary Pacific, 13:1
New PIMS Volume by Dinnen
Publications, Videos, and CDs
Conferences
Bulletin Board
2001 PACIFIC SYMPOSIUM AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
The
Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program and Institute of New York University, in
New York City, will host a Pacific studies symposium, “Pacific Islands,
Atlantic Worlds,” 25–28 October 2001. The Center for Pacific
Islands Studies will be a cosponsor of this symposium, which will also serve as
the center’s twenty-sixth annual conference.
The
NYU symposium will provide an introduction to Pacific Islands Studies and in
particular to Pacific cultural production and cultural politics, to an East
Coast audience. The symposium will bring together faculty from the Pacific
region with Pacific Islands scholars and students on the US continent, as well
as interested persons in ethnic studies, American Studies, anthropology, and
history departments at various institutions in the New York area. The symposium
convener is Adria L Imada (NYU
American Studies); symposium co-organizers are J Kehaulani Kauanui (Wesleyan University) and
Anne-Marie Tupuola (NYU and
Columbia University).
Among
the topics to be addressed at the symposium are the Pacific Islander diaspora
on the US continent; the politics of contemporary cultural production in
relationship to migration, globalization, and activism; Pacific collections in
museums and archives on the East Coast; and strategies for teaching Pacific
studies on the East Coast. A gallery exhibit, film, and cultural performances
will augment the formal sessions.
In
taking a critical cultural studies and transnational approach, the symposium
builds on other recent conferences at the center, and elsewhere, which have
looked at issues for the future of Pacific studies, the Pacific diaspora, and
representations of the Pacific in literature and film. The NYU symposium also
follows on a symposium last year at the University of California, Santa Cruz,
“Native Pacific Cultural Studies on the Edge,” convened by J
Kehaulani Kauanui and Vicente M Diaz.
The UCSC symposium examined the triangulation of native studies, cultural
studies, and Pacific studies, and reconsidered indigeneity from multiple
locations, including diasporic locations.
In
its emphasis on teaching and curricular strategies, the symposium also builds
on the Pacific Studies Initiative (PSI), a joint East-West Center and CPIS
endeavor, partly funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which has
looked at ways of incorporating Pacific materials into undergraduate humanities
curricula (http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/psiweb
).
For more information, contact
Adria L Imada at ali201@nyu.edu or Fannie Chan, institute events coordinator, at fanniechan@yahoo.com, or the NYU Asian/Pacific/American Studies
Program & Institute, 269 Mercer St. Suite 609, New York, NY 10003; tel:
(212) 998-3700; fax: (212) 998-4705.
PACIFIC SECOND LANGUAGE RESEARCH FORUM 2001
Pacific
Second Language Research Forum (PacSLRF) 2001 will be hosted by the University
of Hawai‘i at Mnoa and cosponsored by
the Center for Pacific Islands Studies. The conference will be held 4–7
October. Deadline for paper proposals is 30 April 2001. The PacSLRF
organization was established in 1991 to provide a forum for dissemination of
second language acquisition research in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the
plenary speakers are Noeau Warner,
of the Hawaiian language program at UH Manoa, and Karen Watson-Gegeo, University of California, Davis, a former
affiliate faculty member of CPIS. For more information, including on-line
proposal submission forms, see the PacSLRF website at http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/pacslrf/.
FLAS FELLOWSHIP COMPETITION
PACIFIC STUDIES 2000: WRAP-UP
The
center’s fiftieth anniversary conference, 14–18 November 2000, was
a milestone for the center in several respects. The conference, convened by
Vilsoni Hereniko, was the first to
bring together representatives from Pacific studies programs in the region to
discuss and debate critical issues for the future of these programs. The
colleges and universities represented included American Samoa Community
College,
Brigham Young University—Hawai’i Campus, the University of
Auckland, the Australian National University, the University of Canterbury at
Christchurch, the University of Guam, the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo,
the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, the College of
Micronesia—Chuuk
Campus, the National University of Samoa, the University of the South Pacific,
and the Victoria University of Wellington. Steven Edmond Winduo, University of Papua New Guinea,
was unable to attend, but sent a written contribution.
Willa
J Tanabe, Dean of the School of
Hawaiian, Asian & Pacific Studies, opened the conference, and Robert C Kiste, director of the center, gave the
opening keynote address on the history of the center. Dr Kiste has been
director of the center since 1978 and has been responsible for the tremendous
growth in its programs. Other featured speakers included Konai Helu Thaman (University of the South Pacific)
and David Hanlon (UH Manoa)
addressing the decolonization of Pacific studies; Edvard Hviding (University of Bergen, Norway)
and Vilsoni Hereniko (UH Manoa)
addressing interdisciplinary approaches; and Marsha Kinder (University of Southern California) and Terence Wesley-Smith (UH Manoa) addressing new
technologies and pedagogies. There was a recognizable coherence to the set of
papers as a whole, with the comments of Thaman and Hanlon on decolonizing
Pacific studies laying the foundational context for the papers that followed.
The speakers were united in paying homage to the richness and dynamism of
Pacific Islands knowledges, acknowledging the need to redress the imbalances
that have historically characterized Pacific and western interactions, and
identifying some of the obstacles and issues that will arise in redressing
these imbalances.
Although
no concrete steps were taken at the conference toward formally initiating a
regional consortium of Pacific Islands studies, Stewart Firth, University of the South Pacific, and Brij Lal, Centre for the Contemporary Pacific
(CCP), ANU, gave talks that explored this concept. Firth described the
different paradigms of Pacific studies, the tensions between them, and
“the contemporary political background against which we must ponder the
future of Pacific studies.” Lal followed with a description of the
program of the CCP, of which he is the director. Although conference
participants stopped short of convening a committee to work on plans for a
consortium, a small group met on Saturday following the conference wrap-up to
talk about further developing interactive Pacific studies modules that might
connect and enhance communication among student and faculty at various Pacific
studies programs. A pilot for this type of module was used at UH Manoa and the
University of Canterbury (see the July-September newsletter) and Terence
Wesley-Smith and Peter Hempenstall
talked about their experiences with the module.
The
conference was also the first opportunity for the center to explore the
potential contribution of the arts in an interdisciplinary approach to
under-standing the Pacific. One evening was devoted to an exciting development
in the arts of the region, the work of the Oceania Centre for Culture and the
Arts, in Suva, Fiji, and one of its components, the Oceania Dance Theatre.
Centre Director Epeli Hau‘ofa,
displayed paintings and drawings that were created at the centre by artists
from across the Pacific working to express a sense of the region. One evening
was devoted to “The Boiling Ocean,” a multi-media dance performance
choreographed by Allan Alo, Artist
in Residence at the Oceania Centre, and danced by Alo, Katerina Teaiwa, and Linda Savage. Another featured readings and
performances by Sia Figiel,
Teresia Teaiwa, and Richard Hamasaki. A reception hosted by the
Pacific Islands Development Program, featuring island foods prepared by the
Pan-Pacific Club, and the music of the Kava Boys, got the conference off to a
great start. Dinner and dancing to the music of history graduate student Betty Ickes band, Te Hina o te Moana, on
Friday evening rounded out the week.
One
of the most exciting aspects of the conference, initiated by Hereniko, was the
video-taping and showing of the conference over a local station by ‘Olelo
Community Television. The approximately eighteen-hour program, produced by
Dennis Ragsdale, has been shown
repeatedly. It has not only enabled faculty and students to view parts of the
conference they were unable to attend, but it has engaged Pacific Islanders and
others in the community in a dialogue with the speakers.
UHM LIBRARY NEWS
UH Library Moves to New System
As
of 8 January 2001, the University of Hawai‘i library system moved from
the CARL library system (UHCARL) to the Endeavor system (Hawai‘i
Voyager). The online catalog for the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa can
now be accessed at the following site: http://uhmanoa.lib.hawaii.edu.
The following databases have not
yet migrated to this new system, however, and can still be accessed from the
old UHCARL website at http://www.lib2.hawaii.edu:1080:
Hawai‘i Pacific Journal Index, Trust Territory Archives, Bishop Museum,
and the Hawaii State Archives.
The new Hawai‘i Voyager
catalog is a shared database (combined system catalog) that includes holdings
for University of Hawai‘i system libraries on all campuses. The holdings
for Hamilton Library (including the Pacific Collection and the Hawaiian
Collection) appear at the end of the list of sites.
Barnwell Joins Pacific Collection
In mid-March 2001 Jane Barnwell, formerly librarian of Palau
Community College (PCC), will join the staff of the Pacific Collection at UH
Library. Ms Barnwell’s
earlier work in Pacific studies at the University of Oregon, her development of
the excellent PCC Library, her active role in the Pacific Islands Association
of Libraries and Archives, and her participation in professional conferences
have given her an extensive background in Pacific librarianship. She will join Karen Peacock and Lynette Furuhashi in working on acquisitions,
reference, and instruction for the Pacific Collection.
Effective 1 January 2001, Peacock
became Head of Special Collections.
Although she will remain Curator of the Pacific Collection, her
appointment means that she will spend half of her time on departmental affairs. This development resulted in the
creation of a new Pacific specialist position, which Jane Barnwell will fill.
UH Library Renovation
From May through August of 2001
the UH Hamilton Library will be undergoing renovation and asbestos removal.
Temporary facilities will be available in the new wing of the library, but
normal services and access to many collections will be curtailed. As there are
not yet specific details on access for Pacific resources, researchers should
contact Karen Peacock, Pacific Curator, before planning summer travel to
Honolulu. She can be reached by e-mail at peacock@hawaii.edu,
by phone at (808) 956-2851, or by fax at (808) 956-5968.
IN MEMORIAM:
CHARLES LAMOUREUX
The
center lost a longtime member of its affiliate faculty with the death on 16
October of biologist and director of the University of Hawai‘i’s
Harold L Lyon Arboretum, Charles H Lamoureux.
A member of the university community for 41 years, Dr Lamoureux held many
administrative roles, from chair of the botany department to associate dean for
academic affairs in the UHM College of Arts and Sciences. For many years he and
Dr Alison Kay, also a member of the CPIS affiliate faculty, have cotaught the
popular course Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands. As a researcher, he did
field work in American Samoa, Indonesia, and Micronesia. A world authority on
plants, he was also a consultant to such agencies as the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Dr Lamoureux taught thousands of students
over his long career and will be remembered for his enthusiasm, his
scholarship, and his work on conservation and environmental projects as well as
his encyclopedic knowledge of plants. A memorial service attended by many
friends and colleagues was held 18 November at the Lyon Arboretum. The Charles
H Lamoureux Memorial Fund has been established at the University of
Hawai‘i Foundation. Contributions can be sent to UH Foundation, Bachman
101, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822.
NORMAN MELLER AWARD AT UHM
As
reported in the last newsletter, Dr Norman Meller,
political scientist and former Director of CPIS, passed away in July 2000. Dr
Meller bequeathed a gift of $5,000 to CPIS with its disposition left to the
discretion of the center.
For
most of his career, Meller was associated with the MA program in Pacific
Islands studies, and it is appropriate to announce the creation of the Norman
Meller Award for the best MA research paper of the year at the University of
Hawai‘i. The award is $250, and both Plan A and Plan B students are eligible.
Papers should be submitted to Robert C Kiste
at the address on the masthead. Deadline for submissions is 30 April 2001.
To
honor Dr Meller and insure the longevity of the award, contributions to the
Meller fund are welcomed. Dr Kiste has made an initial gift. Checks should be
made payable to the University of Hawai‘i Foundation and labeled
“Meller Fund—Pacific Islands Studies.” Contributions should
be mailed directly to the University of Hawai‘i Foundation, Bachman Hall
101, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822.
FINNEY AND KELLY RETIRE
Ben
Finney, Professor of Anthropology,
and Marion Kelly, Professor of
Ethnic Studies, have retired as members of the university faculty and the
Center for Pacific Islands Studies affiliate faculty. Both have worked with
CPIS for many years, teaching and researching contemporary as well as
historical issues in Hawai‘i as well as other parts of the Pacific.
Finney
has taught at UHM for 30 years and was chair of the Department of Anthropology
from 1986 to 1995. In 1997 he received the UH Regents’ Medal for
excellence in research. One of his main interests has been applying
anthropological perspectives to exploring, using, and living in space. In 1995
he was awarded the Tsiolkovsky Medal, in Russia, for his contributions to the
study of cosmonautics. Another long-term interest has been experimental
voyaging in the Pacific. For his contributions to the revival of traditional
canoe voyaging and the study of Polynesian culture, he was awarded the French University
of the Pacific Medal in 1995.
Marion
Kelly was the first graduate of the UHM Pacific Islands studies program (MA
1956). After serving in the anthropology department at Bernice P Bishop Museum,
she joined the Ethnic Studies Program at UH Manoa. She has been active on
behalf of Hawaiian land issues for many years, and although her research
interests are wide-ranging she is probably best known for her research and
writing on the Mahele of 1848. She has
been honored by the Association for Asian American Studies as well as
Hawai‘i’s Thousand Friends and the Hawaiian Historical Society.
Samoan Language International Commission
and First Academic Conference
National University of Samoa
by Luafata Simanu-Klutz
From precontact times to the first half of the twentieth century, Samoan chiefs held a fale‘ula o fatua‘iupu on a regular basis to construct and challenge new knowledge and information on language and culture. Fale (house) and ‘ula (garland or beautiful), was a gathering place where matai (chiefs) came to initiate new ones and to fatu (create new ‘upu, or words). In addition (according to Reverend and Senator Fa‘ivae Galeai of Leone, American Samoa, who grew up in Manu‘a) a fale‘ula o fatua‘iupu was an exclusive occasion when an untitled man could be initiated into chieftainship through a sponsor (a chief or matai) based on the aesthetics and accuracy of his oratorical performance. No one became chief if they failed the oratorical test. The first fale‘ula were apparently run by aitu, supernatural beings, and were held in the wee hours of the morning.
On 8 and 9 December 2000, two CPIS affiliates attended the first meeting of a modern fale‘ula o fatua‘iupu, a language commission recently formed in Apia, Samoa, with a vision of working together to oversee trends, issues, and policies affecting and governing the acquisition and application of the Samoan language wherever it exists. John Mayer, coordinator of the Samoan Language program at the University of Hawai‘i and I, a graduate assistant at CPIS, joined representatives from Samoa, American Samoa, New Zealand, Hawai‘i, and California at this landmark event. The major outcome of the meeting was the approval of a constitution.
The international fale‘ula will function primarily as a forum for discussing and monitoring trends and issues of the Samoan language and culture wherever Samoans reside. It will have no jurisdiction over who becomes a chief; however, it will forge an understanding among the general Samoan public of the value and validity of both similarities and particularities that exist among and at the various locations. For instance, Samoan spoken in Samoa will not be superior to the version used in Hawai‘i, but a different version. Needless to say, it is the intention of the group to make clear that no entity can claim linguistic or cultural superiority over another.
Understanding that language evolves and changes in its border crossings, the fale‘ula will not impose policies, but will recommend and reconcile content and form considered necessary for the survival and maintenance of the Samoan language wherever it travels. A secondary function of the fale‘ula will be to oversee curricula and instructional development in the schools. Its next task will be to prioritize issues and needs in respective countries and then pool appropriate expertise from among Samoans and others around the world to facilitate development and maintenance of research, curricula, and public and private fale‘ula.
The meeting was hosted by the Samoan Language Department at the National University of Samoa, and cosponsored by the American Samoa Humanities Council, the Samoan Department at the National University of Samoa, American Samoa Community College, the Departments of Education in both Samoa, and the Samoan Language Department at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. The group will meet annually at a location approved at a previous meeting and will be hosted by the entity where the president and chair resides at a particular time. Currently, Aiono Dr Fanaafi Le Tagaloa, president of the AMOSAAcademy in Samoa, is the first president and chair. Samoa will again host the 2001 meeting. The secretariat of the fale‘ula is currently at the American Samoa Community College under the leadership of Dr Salu Hunkin, president of the college.
The pioneers of this effort have been coordinators of Samoan language programs at institutions of higher learning and include Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin and Muliagatele Vavao from Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University respectively; Dr Salu Hunkin of American Samoa Community College; Maulolo Le‘aula Tavita, coordinator of the Samoan Language Program at the National University of Samoa; Lui Tuitele, past chair of the American Samoa Humanities Council; and John Mayer. John and I have also been actively involved as members of a planning task force. We hope to host a fale‘ula in Hawai‘i in the near future.
In our opinion, Samoa is
the natural setting for this critical forum. The governments of both Samoa and
American Samoa have mandated support of the international body through either
law or policy. Moreover, both entities have mandated the formation of local
language commissions.
After the fale‘ula, I was able to stay on and participate in the first
ever academic conference hosted by the National University of Samoa from
11–14 December 2000. Called Measina a Samoa, the conference
attracted many voices from around the Pacific. (Measina is Samoan for the
“jewels” of a culture. A fine mat or tapa cloth is a measina, as are local
knowledge and practices, chiefs, women, and so forth.) The conference, convened
by Dr Asiata Vaai, director of the Institute of Samoan Studies, was a
coordinated effort among all the faculties of the university. Deans of various
faculties attended, and many of them presented papers—in Samoan or
English or both. No one seemed put off by not understanding a paper delivered
in Samoan. Apologies and offers for private discussions with nonvernacular
speakers were announced in advance. A booklet of abstracts was made available.
Prominent scholars such as Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa from AMOSA, Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri from Auckland University, and Elise Huffer from the University of the South Pacific provided leadership and inspiration. Aumua Mataitusi Simanu from the Manoa Samoan language department also attended and enjoyed the food and papers. My own paper addressed some of the issues of Samoan migration to Hawai‘i, including the challenges that the matai face there: from the lack of a land base and daily access to an extended family, to having their pule (authority) supplanted by the church; the Samoan matai has become a “rusty” measina in need of a polish.
Other themes throughout the week included Samoa and other Pacific cultures; society, environment, and the economy; literature, art, and education; Samoan women and theology; and the future. Presentations took various forms—from oratory to sermon to Power Point slides, and all in the cool of an air-conditioned conference facility. Participants also enjoyed cultural activities in the evenings, such as an ‘ava ceremony, a hotel dinner, and an opera performed by the students of the National University.
The Measina a Samoa conference may become a Christmas special for all those interested in a mixture of academics and fun in Samoa in December. For more information, contact Asiata Saleimoa Vaai at the National University of Samoa: Asiata.Vaai@nus.edu.ws.
Eighth Festival of Pacific Arts
by Barbara B
Smith
The 8th Festival of Pacific Arts, held in New
Caledonia 23 October—3 November 2000, brought together c. 2500
participants from almost every country in the Pacific plus perhaps 1000 others
who attended to enjoy—and many to document for study purposes—this
celebration of the artistry of the peoples of the Pacific Islands. Among those
from UHM were CPIS affiliate music faculty members Dr Jane Moulin and Professor Emeritus Barbara Smith, and Haili‘opua Baker and Keliko Hoe, Hawaiian language lecturers and halau members of the official Hawai‘i delegation.
Hawai‘i was represented by the
organization Halau Haloa, an umbrella organization whose Director is Kalani Akana. The male dancers were drawn from Ka Pa Hula Hawai‘i,
under the direction of Kaha‘i Topolinski. Female dancers were from Halau Mohala
‘Ilima, under the direction of Mapuana deSilva.
The first festival (then called the South
Pacific Festival of Arts) was held in Fiji in 1972, initiated by the South
Pacific Commission to encourage respect for, and appreciation of, the
traditional arts— especially dance. Subsequent festivals, each in a
different country, have been held at four-year intervals (except for 1984 when
the festival was scheduled for New Caledonia but aborted due to civil unrest
and rescheduled for Tahiti in 1985). The major concentration of activities has
taken place in large centers—Rotorua, New Zealand in 1976; Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea in 1980; Papeete, Tahiti in 1985; Townsville, Australia in
1988, Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 1992, Apia, Western Samoa (now
Samoa) in 1996—with tours to and other activities in smaller centers in
the country.
Each host country has chosen a theme, and
introduced or given special prominence to one or another of the arts (eg,
voyaging, tattoo, fashion show, etc). As subsequent festivals have tended to
retain previous additions, the scope of activities has continued to expand with
the variety and number of presentations from each country requiring an
increased number of venues to showcase them. Particularly appropriate to the
year 2000, the theme of the Festival in New Caledonia was “Words of the
Past, Words of the Present, Words of the Future,” with presentations at
fifteen venues in Noumea plus venues in Koné and Poindimié (both
in the north of the Grande Terre) and on Lifou (one of the Loyalty Islands).
As in most previous festivals, a Festival
Village, with a thatched kiosk for each participating country (and other kisoks
for ticket sales, stamp exhibit, book exhibit, etc) was constructed for the
display (and in most cases also for sale) of each country’s distinctive
arts and crafts. In Noumea, the Festival Village was also a venue for almost
continuous performances from 10 am to 10 pm (or even later). Cuisines of the
Pacific (at the Festival Village), choral singing (at several venues), and
contemporary plastic arts (the Melanesian Biennial at the strikingly beautiful
and functional Tjibaou Cultural Centre that was built in anticipation of this
festival) were given more prominence than in previous festivals. New musics in
popular idioms, and new dramas for Western-style theaters, were extensively
presented. Nevertheless, exceptionally fine performances of both traditional
dance (eg, that of Kiribati) and new choreographies (eg, that of the Wetr group
from Lifou) received enthusiastic acclaim and the “Tahitian
Spectacular” introduced most of those in attendance to sophisticated new
lighting effects and incorporation of a simultaneously screened film as
backdrop for basically traditional-style dance.
The Palau delegation, led by Faustina Rehuher (MA 1989) was prominent in
official functions and demonstrated the republic’s readiness to host the
9th festival in 2004.
OCEANIA ON THE MOVE
During
fall semester 2000, CPIS students worked with counterparts at Canterbury
University in Aotearoa/New Zealand in a unique experiment in collaborative
teaching and learning. The four-week interactive module on migration, called
Oceania on the Move, used e-mail and web-based technology to link UH students
in PACS 491 The Contemporary Pacific
with students in a Pacific history course at Canterbury. Participants on both
campuses were enthusiastic about Oceania on the Move, which will be offered
again in 2001. The module was developed by CPIS faculty member Terence Wesley-Smith and Canterbury’s
Peter Hempenstall as part of the
Ford Foundation–funded Moving Cultures project. Similar collaborative
teaching ventures are being developed with the University of the South Pacific
in Fiji, Ateneo de Zamboanga in Mindanao, The Philippines, and The National
University of Singapore.
PACIFIC FILMS AT HIFF 2000
The
Pacific was represented by a number of films at the November 2000 Hawai‘i
International Film Festival (HIFF). The twentieth annual festival was notable,
among other things, for the first ever full-length feature film to be Hawaiian
acted and produced and in the Hawaiian language. Ka‘ililauokekoa (80 min) relates the legend of Kaua‘i Chiefess
Ka‘ililauokekoa. Among other Pacific films at the twentieth anniversary
festival were:
·
Compassionate Exile (59 min) is a film that explores, through oral histories,
life on Makogai, in Fiji, an island that served as a leprosarium for a number
of Pacific Islands countries from 1911 to 1969. The film documents both the
personal histories of its subjects and the wider social history of Makogai.
(Reviewed in The Contemporary Pacific,
Spring 2001.)
·
The Feathers of Peace (35 mm, 88 min) is a documentary based on Michael King’s novel, Moriori, the
Feathers of Peace, about the Moriori
people of the Chatham Islands. Directed by Barry Barclay, the film exposes the tragedy that befell a group of
people who lived and died by their tradition of peace.
·
Tu Tangata: Weaving for
the People (68 min) explores the artwork
and ideology of the women weavers of the Waiwhetu Maori community in
Aotearoa/New Zealand. It weaves together cultural identity, family, community,
and spiritual values, along with respect for natural resources.
·
Rising Waters: Global
Warming and the Fate of the Pacific Islands
(57 min) looks at the consequences of rising sea levels and travels to the
Pacific to interview government officials and NGO personnel working to deal
with this problem. This film will be shown on public television in the United
States later in the year.
·
Since the Company Came (52 min) is the story of a community in the Solomon
Islands as it tries to come to terms with the social, cultural, and ecological
disruption caused by logging.
·
Conserving Pacific
Heritage (34 min) shows the biological
diversity of the islands and introduces the South Pacific Biodiversity
Conservation Programme.
·
Cross the Rainbow Bridge:
Our Story (29 min) looks at historical
connections between Hawaiian voyagers and Native Americans and documents
internet contacts between Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, California,
and the Anuenue Hawaiian Language Immersion School in Honolulu.
·
Te Pito O Te Henua: Rapa
Nui (60 min) tells a story of Rapa Nui and
explores the close ties between Rapa Nui people and the people of Hawai‘i
brought about by the voyaging canoe Hokule‘a.
·
Pacific Passages (30 min) is designed for secondary school classroom use.
It interweaves contemporary footage of life cycle ritual events with daily
activities of Islanders from across the Pacific and with artwork from the
Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
·
Aloha Quest: Parts 1 &
2 (120 min) is based on a six-hour educational
television, and simultaneous webcast, presentation that took place on 19
December 1999. It features live interviews, musical performances, and
pre-recorded segments focusing on Hawaiian sovereignty.
·
Taro Roots (29 min) tells the story of a young Hawaiian man trying to
survive and raise a daughter in the urban center of Honolulu who inherits
family lands on rural Moloka‘i. The film won the Blockbuster Video
Audience Award for best short.
·
Hokule‘a: Guiding
Star (56 min) tells a story of the voyaging
canoe and the trip to Rapa Nui.
·
Kumu Hula: A Tradition of
Teachers (30 min) uses interviews to
explore all aspects of the teaching of hula, including apprenticeships and the
relationship of students to their teachers.
·
He‘eia: Where Two
Waters Meet (40 min) is the story of the
fishpond He‘eia and the commitment of the people who live and volunteer
at the pond.
·
May Earth Live: A Journey
Through the Hawaiian Forest (57 min) is
the story of Hawai‘i’s native forests: are they being saved or are
they being destroyed? The video was shown on Hawai‘i Public Television
and will be distributed nationally during the first half of 2001.
·
A Mau A Mau: To Continue
Forever (60 min) focuses on John
Ka‘imikaua’s gifts as a historian, storyteller, visionary, kumu
hula, and chanter.
The
twenty-first annual Hawaii International Film Festival will be held 2–11
November 2001. For information on the festival, and for more information on the
films listed above, see the HIFF website at http://www.hiff.org.
PIC MEDIA FUND 2000 AWARDS
Pacific
Islanders in Communications (PIC) has announced its latest awards for funding
for video programming in the categories of research and development,
production, and completion. Among the film subjects are Hawaiian sovereignty,
the political evolution of American Samoa, Maori participation in eighteenth-
and nineteenth-century American whaling, a Hawaiian-coached youth football team
in Guam, and the preservation of Hawai‘i’s cultural landscape. CPIS
members, Terence Wesley-Smith and
Luafata Simanu-Klutz were a part
of the Media Fund panel.
The
deadline to apply for Media Fund 2001 is 3 August 2001. The fund for 2001 has
doubled to $200,000. Applications are available on-line at http://www.piccom.org
or by contacting PIC at 1221 Kapi‘olani Boulevard, Suite 6A-4, Honolulu,
Hawai‘i 96814-3513 or by e-mail at infor@piccom.org.
VISITORS
Konai
Helu Thaman, Head of the School of
Humanities, and Randy Thaman,
Professor of Pacific Islands Biogeography, University of the South Pacific,
Suva, Fiji, were visiting scholars at CPIS during September and October. On
leave from USP, they were working on various writing projects and doing
research in Hamilton Library. They also gave a talk at the University of
Hawai‘i at Hilo on circumstances surrounding the recent coup in Fiji.
Christiane
Brosius, DFG-Projekt
Theatralität und Kolonialismus, in the Institut für
Theaterwissenschaft, Universität Mainz, Germany, visited the center in
October to talk to Vilsoni Hereniko
and to pursue research in the Wong Audiovisual Collection on the representation
of the Pacific in early films.
OCCASIONAL SEMINARS
Betty
P Ickes, a doctoral student in the
UHM Department of History, gave a talk on Expanding a Colonized Landfall:
Relocating Olohega in the History of Tokelau on 17 October. Ickes research
looked at oral traditions and histories, manuscripts, and missionary journals
relating to the history of Olohega (Swain’s Island) and competing claims
of Tokelau and American Samoa.
Jean
Louis Rallu, National Institute
for Population Studies, Paris, and Visiting Fellow in the Population, Society,
and Development Studies Program, East-West Center, gave a talk on 31 October on
Population and Social Change in New Caledonia following the Matignon
Agreements. While the Matignon Agreements in 1988 were intended to reduce
inequalities between regions and communities, high immigration from mainland
France has followed the flow of cash generated by the agreements, increasing
imbalances in some sectors.
David
Earle, manager of Program and
Service Evaluation in Te Puni Kokiri—Ministry of Maori Development,
Government of New Zealand, gave a talk on 6 November on Kia Tu Rangatira Ai
Te Ao Maori—Reinventing Government
Responsiveness to Maori. Earle, a graduate of the Pacific Islands studies
program at UHM (MA 1993), talked about how the Labour government’s focus
on building the capacity of Maori communities through local development
initiatives will potentially affect the way government services are perceived,
delivered, and evaluated.
Adria
Imada, graduate student in
American studies at New York University, presented her video, Aunty Betty, at a seminar on 21 November. Imada is researching the
lives of Hawaiian entertainers touring on the US continent and in the Pacific
Islands in the twentieth century. Betty Puanani Makia,
a Native Hawaiian, who has made her home in New York City since 1938 and who
entertained in floorshows and national television in the 1940s and 1950s, is
the focus of Imada’s first video.
David
Chappell, Associate Professor of
History at UHM, gave a report on the thirtieth meeting of the Committee of
Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA), held in Noumea,
20–24 November 2000. The CRGA, the annual business meeting of the Pacific
Community (formerly the South Pacific Commission) hears reports of programs
dealing with marine, social, and land resources in addition to dealing with the
budget and other business. Chappell represented UH Manoa and the Center for
Pacific Islands Studies at the meeting.
FACULTY ACTIVITIES
CPIS
bids aloha and best wishes to Michael Ogden,
former affiliate faculty member in the UHM Department of Communication, who resigned
to take a position at Central Washington University. Ogden is helping launch a
film and video studies major at CWU while working on other information
technology projects. He plans to maintain his Pacific Islands Internet
Resources website (http://www2.hawaii.edu/~ogd
en/piir/index.html) and eventually move it to
CWU. He can be contacted at ogden@cwu.edu.
David Chappell, John Mayer,
and Terence Wesley-Smith are
enjoying sabbaticals during spring semester 2001. All will return to teaching
duties in August 2001. Chappell will be in New Caledonia February through
April, examining 1970s Kanak and Caledonian student radicalism. Mayer and
Wesley-Smith are working on writing projects.
Vilsoni Hereniko has been invited to talk to the Native Hawaiian Bar
Association on 22 February about “Literature, Cultural Politics, and
Identity in the New Pacific.”
Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard and Haunani-Kay Trask have articles in the current issue of Amerasia
Journal, Vol 26, No 2. They are,
respectively, “John Kneubuhl’s ‘Polynesian’ Theater at
the Crossroads: At Play in the Fields of Cultural Identity” and
“Settlers of Color and Immigrant Hegemony: ‘Locals’ in Hawai‘i.”
Terry Hunt is running archaeological field schools in Fiji and
Rapa Nui in June-July 2001. For information see his website at http://www2.s
oc.hawaii.edu/css/anth/projects/ppp/index.html.
STUDENTS AND ALUMNI
Kamalu
DuPreez-Aiavao has been awarded an
internship with NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act)
at Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. The internship, which runs from 20 January to
26 May 2001, is directed by Dr Guy Kaulukukui. The internship is open to Native
Hawaiian undergraduate and graduate students who have a background in Hawaiian
studies or anthropology and who are interested in learning about the
museum’s responsibilities regarding the NAGPRA law. Two students were
selected for the spring internship, and two more students will be selected for
summer 2001. Applications for the summer internships will be accepted in May
2001. Interested students should contact Dr Kaulukukui at 847-8274. Students who
are selected are paid a stipend, attend 15 hours of instruction a week, and
contribute to ongoing repatriations being conducted by the museum during their
training period. Part of their coursework includes Culture and History of
Traditional Hawai‘i taught by Kumu
John Keola Lake.
Anne
Perez Hattori (MA 1995) was
awarded her doctorate in Pacific history from UHM in 1999 and is now an
assistant professor in the Division of Humanistic Studies at the University of
Guam where she is teaching world history and history of Micronesia. She has a
chapter, “Feminine Hygiene: Chamorro Women’s Health and the US
Navy,” forthcoming in Engendering Health in the Pacific: Colonial and
Contemporary Perspectives, edited by
Margaret Jolly and Vicki Lukere.
J
Kalani English (MA 1995) has been
elected to the Senate in the Hawai‘i State Legislature. He represents
Wailuku, Kahului, and Upcountry Maui.
THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC,
SPRING 2001
Issue 13:1 of the center’s journal, The Contemporary Pacific, includes:
Articles
From Rolling Thunder to Reggae: Imagining Squatter Settlements in Papua New Guinea
Michael
Goddard
Academic Responsibilities and Representation of the Ok Tedi Crisis in Postcolonial Papua New Guinea
David Hyndman
“How We Know”: Kwara‘ae Rural Villagers Doing Indigenous Epistemology
David
Welchman Gegeo and Karen Ann Watson-Gegeo
Creating Options: Forming a Marshallese community in Orange County, California
Jim Hess, Karen L Nero, and Michael L Burton
Dialogue
Our Own Liberation: Reflections on Hawaiian Epistemology
Manu
Aluli Meyer
The Oceanic Imaginary
Subramani
David and Goliath
Vilsoni
Hereniko
Response to “The Oceanic Imaginary”
Caroline
Sinavaiana-Gabbard
(Re)visioning Knowledge Transformation in the Pacific: A Response to Subramani’s “The Oceanic Imaginary”
David
Welchman Gegeo
An Interview with Subramani
Vilsoni
Hereniko
Political Reviews
Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2000
Joakim Peter, Gonzaga Puas, Donald R Shuster, Julie Walsh
Polynesia in
Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2000
Kerry James, Keli Kalolo, Steven Levine, Margaret Mutu,
Asofou So‘o, Karin von Strokirch
NEW VOLUME IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS MONOGRAPH SERIES
Sinclair
Dinnen’s Law and Order in
a Weak State: Crime and Politics in Papua New Guinea is the seventeenth volume in the center’s Pacific
Islands Monograph Series. The following is taken from series editor David
Hanlon’s editor’s note:
“Twenty-five
years after securing independence, the government of Papua New Guinea struggles
to make a nation out of the many diverse communities within its borders. This
predicament mirrors the dilemma facing many postcolonial governments where the
creation of the state has preceded the development of any real national consciousness.
Securing a diverse population’s allegiance to a national ideology is
compounded in Papua New Guinea by a host of interrelated social and economic
problems, not the least of which are a stagnant economy, a young, expanding,
and increasingly frustrated population, and crime. The illegal, sectarian, and
violence-promoting activities of some politicians further strain the
credibility, even viability, of Papua New Guinea’s government. The
totality, complexity, and richness of the country certainly cannot be reduced
to the issue of public order. Nonetheless, lawlessness has become a measure for
the performance and future prospects of the government.”
In
his book, Dinnen focuses on three case studies involving urban gangs, mining
security, and election-related violence, “charting not only the problems
and complexities of crime, but the possibilities for constructive, pragmatic
solutions.” His findings challenge the findings of much of the existing
literature on law and order in Papua New Guinea.
Sinclair
Dinnen is a fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change, Research
School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University and former
senior researcher in the Crime Division of the National Research Institute in
PNG. The book is published by CPIS and University of Hawai‘i Press (ISBN
0-8248-2280-3, 248 pages, US$40 cloth).
Law
and Order in a Weak State marks a change
of editorship for the Pacific Islands Monograph Series (PIMS). David Hanlon, Professor of History at UHM and
former editor of The Contemporary Pacific, succeeds CPIS Director Robert C Kiste
in this position. Hanlon can be contacted at the Department of History,
University of Hawai‘i at Mnoa, Sak A-203, 2530 Dole
Street, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822 or by e-mail at hanlon@hawaii.edu.
PUBLICATIONS, COMPACT DISKS, AND VIDEOS
UH Press Publications
Ethnographic
Artifacts: Challenges to a Reflexive Anthropology, edited by Sjoerd R Jaarsma
and Marta A Rohatynskyj, examines
anthropological practice and product, confronting issues of representation and
the power of discourse in the lives and practice of both those doing research
and of those being researched. The book consists of eight case studies by
ethnographers with extensive research experience in the Pacific. The
contributors, in addition to Jaarsma and Rohatynskyj, are Niko Besnier, Jonathan Friedman, Michael Goldsmith, Grant McCall, Mary N MacDonald,
Judith Macdonald, and Toon van Meijl. ISBN 0-8248-2302-8 (paper), 280
pages, US$27.95.
Emplaced
Myth: Space, Narrative, and Knowledge in Aboriginal Australia and Papua New
Guinea, edited by anthropologists Alan Rumsey and James F Weiner, situates the ethnography of the
two areas within a comparative framework and examines the relationship between
indigenous systems of knowledge and “place.” The contributors, in
addition to the editors, are Lissant Bolton,
Andrew Lattas, Anthony Redmond, Deborah Rose, Eric Silverman,
Pamela J Stewart, Andrew Strathern, Roy Wagner, and Jürg Wassman.
ISBN 0-8248-2389-3 (paper), 328 pages, US$27.95 paper, US$55.00 cloth.
Samoa:
Pacific Pride, text by Graeme Lay, writer of fiction and nonfiction,
and photographs by Evotia Tamua,
explores the origin of the land and its people, the fauna and flora, climate,
agriculture, and food. It also describes village life and recounts events from
the ancient past to European contact, including the emergence of the two
political states of American Samoa
and Samoa. The book is distributed outside the Pacific for Pacifika
Press. ISBN 0-908597-19-3, 96 pages, US$25.00 paper.
Isles
of Refuge: Wildlife and History of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, by Mark J Rauzon,
is the first book solely devoted to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In the
book, biologist and photographer Rauzon shares his first-hand knowledge of
their natural history and provides a narrative of his travels and conservation
efforts. ISBN 0-8248-2330-3 (paper), 272 pages, US$29.95 paper, US$60.00 cloth.
UH
Press books can be ordered through the Orders Department, University of
Hawai‘i Press, 2840 Kolowalu Street, Honolulu, HI 96822-1888. Website: http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu.
Other Publications
Islands
of Rainforest: Agroforestry, Logging and Eco-tourism in Solomon Islands, by Edvard Hviding
(an anthropologist at University of Bergen, Norway) and Tim Bayliss-Smith (a geographer at
University of Cambridge, UK), is an analysis of modern initiatives in the tropical
rainforests of the Solomon Islands. The authors consider issues such as
logging, eco-timber, and eco-tourism from the local people’s viewpoint,
in terms of a long history of rainforest uses. It reveals how processes of
“impact” are actually two-way interactions, as local communities
incorporate industries like logging into a rapidly evolving postcolonial
society and economy. The book is published by Ashgate (http://www.ashgate.com).
ISBN 0-7546-1233-3, 404 pages, pounds 47.50 cloth.
Art and Culture of Micronesian
Women is the catalog for an interpretive
exhibition presented by the Isla Center for the Arts and the Women and Gender
Studies Program at the University of Guam, 13 April–22 May 2000. The
34-page catalog, edited by Kimberlee S Kihleng
and Nancy P Pacheco, contains
photographs of weavings, body ornamentation, and plaited work, as well as
visual images taken over the past 100 years showing examples of the art in context.
Additional contributors to the text include Anne Perez Hattori (MA 1995), Donald Rubinstein,
and Judy Flores. The cover art is
by Margo Vitarelli (MA 1985). The
catalog is available from the Women and Gender Studies Program, University of
Guam, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam 96923. US$15 paper.
No Te Parau Tia, No Te Parau
Mau: For Justice, Truth and Independence,
a report on the eighth Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) conference
in Tahiti, has been published by the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, in Suva,
Fiji. F$20 includes postage. More information is available on the website http://www.pcrc.org.fj or by e-mail at pcrc@is.com.fj.
Pacific Postmodern: From the Sublime
to the Devious, Writing the Experimental/Local Pacific in Hawai‘i, by Rob Wilson,
has been published in an edition of 200 by Tinfish, 47-391 Hui Iwa Street, #3,
Kane‘ohe, Hawai‘i 96744. 30 pages.
The Language of the Noble
Savage: The Linguistic Fieldwork of Reinhold and George Forster on Cook’s
Second Voyage to the Paific 1772-1775, by
Karl H Rensch, has been published
by Archipelago Press. ISBN 0957731515, 349 pages, US$40.00. Order through
Archipelago Press, Box 274, Mawson 2607, Australia. Fax 61-2-62916455.
Videos
Chea’s Great Kuarao (57 min), a video by Edvard Hviding, Rolf Scott,
and Trygve Tollefsen, focuses on
the everyday lives of the Marovo people of the Western Province, Solomon
Islands. It follows the Chea villagers through five days of a ritualized
communal fishing expedition known as kuarao. The film, made in collaboration with the Solomon Islands
National Museum and the Chea villagers, was made to document the art of kuarao fishing as well as to convey Chea villagers’ pride
in their way of life and their kastom
(custom) and its uses in a changing world. For information, contact Professor
Edvard Hviding by e-mail at Edvard.Hviding@sosantr.uib.no
or by fax at (47) 55 58 92 60.
Kula—Ring of Fire (52 min) tells the story of a Trobriand Islands chief, Nalabatau, and his visition of kula, the elaborate exchange cycle that links the islands. The
video is directed by Michael Balson
and produced by Sky Visuals with national Geographic Explorer, ZDF Germany, and
the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation. VHS, 0-8248-2313-3, US$30. It is
available from University of Hawai‘i Press.
CD
Anthology of Pacific
Music—Rabi is the fifteenth in a
series of Pacific music CDs produced by the Mundo Etnico Foundation in the
Netherlands. Other volumes include music of Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu,
Hawai‘i, Cook Islands, Rapa Nui, Rotuma, and Fiji. More information is
available on the website at http://www.MundoEtnico.nl.
The price outside Europe is Euro 21.60.
CONFERENCES
Native Hawaiian Education Conference
The
Native Hawaiian Education Association (NHEA) announces its second annual
education convention at Kapi‘olani Community College in Honolulu,
30–31 March 2001. Convention highlights include addresses by Jon Osorio and Manu Meyer, workshops on topics such as Hawaiian language,
charter schools, leadership programs, Hawaiians in graduate programs, and
technology. The convention is open to all educators. To request a registration
packet, send an e-mail to nhea@alum.dartmouth.org.