Cultural Identities: Pacific and American
Perspectives
Pacific Islands Studies 690
Spring 1994
Instructors:
Vilsoni Hereniko Tel: 808-956-2659
Center for Pacific Islands Studies Fax: 808-956-7053
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
1890 East-West Road, Moore 215
Honolulu, HI 96822
Geoffrey M. White Tel: 808-944-7343
East-West Center Fax: 808-944-7070
1601 East-West Road Email: white@hawaii.edu
Honolulu, HI 96848-1601
Course Description:
This one-semester course will offer a comparative approach to
the study of cultural identities--as they are conceived and
debated in the United States and Pacific Island societies. The
course will explore constructions of culture and identity in a
variety of contexts, including literature, film, and public
performance. The strategy of the course will be to work from the
particular to the general, scrutinizing specific forms of
identity to understand their meaning and power in contemporary
society.
The course is organized in four parts: First, discussion of
relevant theoretical terms--identity, self, ethnicity, gender,
nation; Second, consideration of contemporary formulations of
identity in the Pacific Islands region; Third, a review of
debates about culture, identity and multiculturalism in America;
and Fourth, comparative discussion with particular reference to
the productions of cultural identity in Hawaii.
Aims: at the end of the course, students should be able
to:
- understand concepts of culture and identity and the basis
for their contentious nature in contemporary society
- compare and contrast particular forms and uses of cultural
identity in America and the Pacific Islands
- critically examine the forms of representation (texts,
films, performances) and historical forces that shape American
and Pacific Islands identities today.
- evaluate and justify particular definitions and expressions
of cultural identity, including the student's own assumptions
about such matters.
Requirements:
Requirements for the course include class participation (20%),
seminar presentations (40%) that will serve as a forum for
dialogue between the student and instructors for critiquing
course materials, and a course paper (40%) that may either take
the form of a case study analyzing a relevant performance,
exhibition, film, or text, or a critical review of readings.
Required Texts (available in bookstore and on reserve,
EWC & UH):
James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture
R. Ferguson et al., ed., Out There: Marginalization and
Contemporary Culture
Epeli Hau'ofa, Tales of the Tikongs
Toni Morrison, ed. Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power
Karen Nero, ed. The Arts and Politics (Special Issue, Pacific
Studies)
Geoffrey White, Identity Through History
Course Outline:
INTRODUCTION AND CULTURAL THEORY
Week 1 (12 January) : Introduction
Week 2 (19 January): Identity Theory
Week 3 (26 January): Politics of Culture and Representation
PACIFIC IDENTITIES
Week 4 (2 February) : Culture and Identity in the Pacific
Week 5 (9 February) : Ethnography
Week 6 (16 February) : Travel Writing and Fiction
Week 7 (23 February) : Film and Video
Week 8 (2 March) : Art, Museums and Public Places
Week 9 (9 March) : Performance: Dance and Theater
RACE, ETHNICITY AND U.S. CULTURAL POLITICS
Week 10 (16 March) Politics of Identity, American Style
Week 11 (30 March) The Hill/Thomas Debate
Week 12 (6 April) Literature/Film/Performance
Week 13 (13 April) Art and Exhibition
PRODUCTIONS OF CULTURE IN HAWAII
Week 14 (20 April) Identity and Tourism in
"Paradise"
Week 15 (27 April) : Literature and Film
Week 16 (4 May) : Music, Performance and Concluding
Reflections
READINGS
Week 1 (12 January) : Introduction
Part I: Administration and Course Requirements
Part II: (see reserve readings, EWC reading room, Burns Hall
fourth floor)
Keesing, Roger
1989 Creating the Past: Custom and Identity in the Contemporary
Pacific. In The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Pacific
Affairs. Vol 1 (1,2): 19-39.
Trask, Haunani-Kay
1991 Natives and Anthropologists: The Colonial Struggle. In The
Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Pacific Affairs. Vol.3:
159-167.
Week 2 (19 January): Identity Theory
Part I:
Geertz, Clifford
1975 The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil
Politics in the New States (selections). In The Interpretation
of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 255-279 &
306-310.
Hall, Stuart
1990 Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In Identity: Community,
Culture, Difference. J. Rutherford, ed. London: Lawrence
& Wishart. Pp. 222-237
Part II
Clifford, James
1988 Introduction: The Pure Products Go Crazy. In The
Predicament of Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press. Pp. 1-17.
Ferguson, Russell
1990 Introduction: Invisible Center. In Out There:
Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures. Ferguson et al.
eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Pp. 9-14.
hooks, bell
1990 marginality as site of resistance. In Ferguson et al. eds.
Pp. 341-343.
Week 3 (26 January): Politics of Culture and Representation
Part I:
West, Cornel
1990 The New Cultural Politics of Difference. In Out There:
Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures. Ferguson et al.
eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Pp. 19-36.
Lorde, Audre
1990 Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference. In Out
There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures. Ferguson et
al. eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Pp. 281-287.
Rosaldo, Renato
1993 Cultural Citizenship in San Jose, California. Paper read at
meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Washington,
D.C. November 1993.
Part II:
Wendt, Albert
1987 Novelists and Historians and the Art of Remembering. In: Class
and Culture in the South Pacific. A. Hooper et al., eds.
Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies. Pp. 78-91.
Hereniko, Vilsoni
1994 Representations of Cultural Identities. In Tides of
History: The Pacific in the Twentieth Century ed. Kerry Howe,
Robert Kiste and Brij Lal (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press).
Week 4 (2 February) : Culture and Identity in the Pacific
Part I:
Hau`ofa, Epeli
1993 Our Sea of Islands. In A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our
Sea of Islands (Suva, University of the South Pacific) 2-16.
Trask, Haunani
1992 Politics in the Pacific Islands - Imperialism and
Self-Determination. In From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and
Sovereignty in Hawaii (Monroe, Common Courage Press) 51-77.
Part II:
Linnekin, J
1990 The Politics of Culture in the Pacific. In Linnekin and
Poyer eds. Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 149-174.
Jolly, Margaret
1992 Specters of Inauthenticity. In The Contemporary Pacific:
A Journal of Pacific Affairs. Vol 4: 1, 49-72.
Week 5 (9 February) : Ethnography
(Hereniko away at ASAO)
Part I:
Clifford, James
1988 On Ethnographic Authority. In The Predicament of Culture.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pp. 21-54.
Handelman, Don
1993 The Absence of Others, the Presence of Texts. In Creativity/Anthropology.
ed. Smadar Lavie, Kirin Narayan and Renato Rosaldo Ithaca,
Cornell University Press 133-152.
Part II:
Dominy, Michele
1990 Maori Sovereignty: A Feminist Invention of Tradition. In
Linnekin and Poyer eds. 237-257.
White, Geoffrey
1991 Identity Through History: Living Stories in a Solomons
Islands Society Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Pp.
xi-29.
Week 6 (16 February) : Travel Writing and Fiction
Part I:
Sharrad, Paul
1990 Imagining the Pacific. In Meanjin. Vol. 49: 4,
597-606.
Theroux, Paul
1992 Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific. London,
Penguin Books 265-292.
Greenblatt, Stephen
1993 Kindly Visions [Review of Reading National Geographic by C.
Lutz and J. Collins] The New Yorker. October 11, 1993,
112-120.
Part II (Week 6, February 16):
Hauofa, Epeli
1993 Tales of the Tikongs. Suva. Beake House. Pp. 7-26;
84-94.
Mita, Merata
1993 Indigenous Literature in a Colonised Society. In Te Ao
Marama: Regaining Aoteaora. Maori Writers Speak Out.
(Auckland, Reed) 310-314.
Week 7 (23 February) : Film and Video
(Students should come to class having seen the following which
are on reserve in the library: Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree;
Cannibal Tours)
Part I:
Ellen, Tricia
1993 Trashing Soundstage Earth. In Honolulu Weekly Vol.3:
47, 6-9.
Barclay, Barry
The Other Eye. In Te Ao Marama, 322-329.
Mellon, Jim
1992 Images of Micronesia on Film and Video. In Pacific
History: Papers from the 8th Pacific History Association
Conference (Mangilao, University of Guam Press and Micronesia
Area Research Center) 385-403.
Lutkehaus, Nancy
1991 "Excuse Me, Everything is Not All Right": On
Ethnography, Film and Representation (An Interview with Filmmaker
Dennis O'Rourke). Cultural Anthropology 4(4): 422-437.
Part II:
Critique of Kula: Ring of Power (to be screened in class)
and other films.
Week 8 (2 March) : Art, Museums and Public Places
Part I:
Lavine, Steven and Ivan Karp
1991 Introduction: Museums and Multiculturalism. In Exhibiting
Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display.
Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Pp. 1-9.
Nero, Karen
1992 Introduction: Challenging Communications in the Contemporary
Pacific. In Pacific Studies: The Arts and Politics of Oceania.
ed. Karen Nero. Vol.15: 4, 1-12.
Kaeppler, A
1989 Art and Aesthetics. In Developments in Polynesian
Ethnology. Alan Howard and Robert Borofsky eds. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 211-240.
Part II:
Cochrane, Susan and Hugh Stevenson
1990 Art in Public Places. In Look! Look! Gen! Look Again!
Contemporary Art from Papua New Guinea ed. Susan Cochrane
Simons (Townsville, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery) 33-38.
Part II (Week 8, cont.)
Nero, Karen
1992 The Breadfruit Story: Mythological Transformations in
Palauan Politics. In Nero, ed. 235-261.
Lewis, Philip
1990 Tourist Art, Traditional Art, and the Museum in Papua New
Guinea. In Art and Identity in Oceania. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 149-163.
Week 9 (9 March) : Performance: Dance and Theater (video
from the Polynesian Cultural Center and/or Festival of Pacific
Arts.)
Part I:
Sinavaiana, C
1992 Comic Theater in Samoa as Indigenous Media. In Karen Nero,
ed. The Arts and Politics of Oceania. Pacific Studies15(4):
199-209.
White, Geoffrey
1991 Identity Through History: Living Stories in a Solomon
Islands Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Pp.
133-156.
Potiki, Roma
1993 The Journey from Anxiety to Confidence. In Te Ao Marama.
314-319.
Part II:
Flinn, Juliana
1992 Pulapese Dance: Asserting Identity and Tradition in Modern
Contexts. In Nero ed; Pp. 57-66.
Lindstrom, Lamont and Geoffrey White
1993 Singing History: Island Songs from the Pacific War. In P.
Dark and R. Rose, eds. Artistic Heritage in a Changing Pacific.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 185-196.
Stevenson, Karen
1992 Politicization of La Culture Maohi: The Creation of a
Tahitian Cultural Identity. In Nero, ed; Pp. 117-136
Week 10 (16 March) Politics of Identity, American Style
Part I:
Clifford, James
1988 Identity in Mashpee. In Predicament of Culture. Pp.
277-346.
Part II (Week 10):
Dominguez, Virginia
1986 Introduction. In White By Definition: Social
Classification in Creole Louisiana. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press. Pp. 1-16.
Kirkpatrick, John
1989 Trials of Identity in America. Cultural Anthropology
4(3): 301-311.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony 1992 African Identities. In In My
Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. Pp. 173-180.
Week 11 (30 March) The Hill/Thomas Debate
Part I:
Morrison, Toni
1992 Introduction: Friday on the Potomac. In: T. Morrison, ed. Race-ing
Justice, En-gendering Power. New York: Pantheon Books. Pp.
vii-xxx.
Cornel West
1992 Black Leadership and the Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning. In
Morrison, ed. Pp. 390-401.
Part II:
Lubiano, Wahneema
1992 Black Ladies, Welfare Queens and State Minstrels:
Ideological War By Narrative Means. In Morrison, ed. Pp. 323-363.
Week 12 (6 April) Literature/Film/Performance
Part I:
Carla Kaplan
1992 Keep Hope Alive': Terry McMillan and Black Women's Romance.
(43 pp.)
Gabriel, Teshome
1992 Thoughts on Nomadic Aesthetics and Black Independent
Cinema: Traces of a Journey (selection). In Ferguson et al.
eds. Pp. 402-410.
Part II:
Chin, Daryl
1992 Multiculturalism and Its Masks: The Art of Identity
Politics. Performing Arts Journal XIV(1): 1-15.
Sanner, Hans-Ulrich
1993 "Another Home Run for the Black Sox: Humor and
Creativity in Hopi Ritual Clown Songs. In: New Voices in
Native American Literary Criticism. Arnold Krupat, ed.
Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Pp. 149-173.
Week 13 (13 April) Art and Exhibition
Part I:
Clifford, James
1988 On Collecting Art and Culture. In The Predicament of
Culture. Pp. 215-251.
Part II:
Karp, Ivan
1992 Introduction: Museums and Communities: The Politics of
Public Culture. In The Politics of Public Culture.
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Pp. 1-17.
Yau, John
1992 Please Wait by the Coatroom. In: Ferguson et al. eds. Pp.
133-139.
Week 14 (20 April) Identity and Tourism in
"Paradise"
Part I:
Okamura, Jonathan
1980 Local Culture and Society in Hawaii. Amerasia 7(2):
119-137.
Buck, Elizabeth
1993 Contending Representations of Hawaiian Culture. In Paradise
Remade: The Politics of Culture and History in Hawaii.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Pp. 163-191.
Part II:
Trask, Haunani-Kay
1993 Lovely Hula Hands: Corporate Tourism and the Prostitution of
Hawaiian Culture. In From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and
Sovereignty in Hawai'i. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press.
Pp. 179-197.
Desmond, Jane
1992 Selling the Contemporary American Primitive in Paradise.
Paper read at American Studies Conference. Costa Mesa, CA.
November 1992. (12 pp.)
Kennedy, Richard
1993 Curator, Community and the State in the Representation of
Hawaii. Paper read at American Anthropological Association
meeting. Washington, D.C. (12 pp.)
Week 15 (27 April) : Literature and Film
(Students should come to class having seen Blue Hawaii.)
Part I:
Balaz, Joe Selection of poems.
Hall, Dana
Wilson, Rob
1994 Blue Hawaii: Bamboo Ridge as Critical Regionalism. In What
is in a Rim?: Critical Perspectives on the Asia-Pacific Idea
(Boulder, Colorado: Westview Pres.)
Part II:
Critique of videos Ho`ala: Awakening (to be screened in
class) and Blue Hawaii
Rampell, Ed
1992 Thumbs Down: 10 Hawaii Films to Make Your Loose Your Luau. Honolulu
Weekly April 15, vol. 2 no. 16: 4-5.
Week 16 (4 May) : Music and Performance
Part I:
Osorio, John
1992 Songs of Our Natural Selves: The Enduring Voice of Nature in
Hawaiian Music. In Pacific History, 429-437.
Silva, Kalena
1989 Culture, Change and Hawaiian Music. In Ethnies:
Renaissance in the Pacific. Spring 1989 Vol.4. n.8-9-10.
114-121.
Weintraub, Andrew
1993 Jawaiian and Local Cultural Identity in Hawaii. Perfect
Beat 1(2): 78-89.
Part II: Course Review and Evaluation
[Subject: Pacific/Comparative, Cultural Studies]
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