Fall 2009

Honors 291

The City as Text--Reading Moiliili

Sophomore Seminar


This seminar will investigate the topic “What is a community?” The seminar will take multiple approaches: a historical approach, architectural and urban planning approach, cultural approach, topographical approach, demographical approach, occupational and industrial approach, leisure time approach, educational approach, among others.

Text:

Mo'ili'ili–The Life of a Community–Laura Ruby, editor
(all images on this website come from this book)

and other readings and primary sources

Available resources on the UH campus and in the community:
    * Census schedules
    * Maps (including Sanborn maps, tax maps, and resident maps)
    * Honolulu Almanac and Directories
    * UH Archives (including aerial photos)
    * Waihona Aina database of Land Commission Award claims
    * Alu Like translated collections
    * Newspaper and journal archives

Available resources off campus:
    * Bishop Museum Archives and Library (including the photo and art collections)
    * Bureau of Conveyance documents
    * State Archives (including probate documents)
    * McCully-Moiliili Library

Targeted interviewing relative to the topic of the long paper/presentation.

Seminar members will go on location, investigate primary source resources, conduct targeted interviews, lead group presentations and write/present 2 short papers and 1 extended paper. The seminar will contribute its research to the moiliili.net website.
Learning Outcomes for Honors 291

• students will understand disciplinary perspectives on a theoretical and/or practical problem: What Is a Community?

•  students will learn principles of field-based inquiry into social or environmental problems; as well as learn principles of historical inquiry and use of primary sources

• students will understand how inquiry is conducted within the specific disciplines of history, sociology, geography, architecture, economics, political science, and urban planning.

•  students will develop an appreciation of natural and cultural environments;

•  students will learn how to participate effectively in a seminar class;

• students will gain a measure of proficiency reading scholarly/research publications, and write a scholarly paper

COURSE CONTENT:

The course will include of an investigation of a number of theoretical and methodological frameworks that shape the products of research–for example semiotic approaches, geologic approaches, economic approaches, political approaches, historical approaches, Hawaiian Renaissance approaches, geographical/cartographic approaches.

    * 2 Great Debate presentations/papers --3-5 pages -- 30%
    * Class presentations/discussions -- 15%
    * Long presentation/paper investigating a “cultural encounter"-- a "Reading of Moiliili" -- 10-20 pages -- 40%
    * Attendance and seminar participation (what the student brings to each seminar meeting) -- reading the assigned texts and posing a thoughtful discussion question for each seminar meeting [a list will be turned in at mid-semester]) -- 15%

GUIDE FOR GREAT DEBATES

What argument is made and how is it supported (what visual, historical, and theoretical information is examined)? Include your own assessment of these arguments. Your statement should include examples that support your position. Each GREAT DEBATE should include an exploration of new thoughts generated from the readings at hand. You may refer back to earlier readings or discussions or discussion questions and how they bear on your current thoughts. 


GUIDE FOR LONG PRESENTATION/PAPER

This paper will be 10-20 pages in length and will investigate one of the questions raised about the geologic, economic, political and cultural fabric of Moiliili. The paper will be a careful comparison and contrast of your topic and all research will be properly cited. Since the main focus of the seminar's research will be on "The City as Text--Reading Moiliili--The Moiliili Japanese Cemetery--The City of the Dead" it can naturally be the subject of your long paper.

GUIDE FOR DISCUSSIONS and GROUP DISCUSSION LEADER PRESENTATIONS

The topics of each class discussion will be approached through a selection of readings. Students are expected to come fully prepared for active and informed participation in the discussions. Students will contribute to the discussions from their notes. The Great Debates and Long Paper will be shared with the seminar in 3-5 minute presentations, and Long Presentation/Paper will be shared with the seminar in 10-20 minute presentations. Elaborate on your main thesis/hypothesis, the explanatory/interpretative text, and any supporting contextual examples. Present additional examples for comparison and contrast. Please bring Powerpoint presentations and accompanying handouts as needed.

PARTICIPATION

This includes: attendance, punctuality, class interaction in great debates, emailing, and office visit. This course requires full attendance. Visual concepts are often only understood after sharing, comparing, questioning, revising and synthesizing, as well as LISTENING. A tardy or absent student diminishes the overall quality of the class. Three tardies will equal one unexcused absence. Three unexcused absences will lower the final grade.

Please respect your colleagues--plan to arrive on time and please do not talk at cross-purposes to the class discussion nor leave the classroom during the discussion time.

Please turn off all electronics including cell phones, beepers, pagers and texting devices before entering the classroom.
 

Laura Ruby
Office – Art 348
Phone – 956-5250 (message only)
lruby@hawaii.edu
www.hawaii.edu/lruby

laurarubyart.com

youtube--laura ruby "Nancy Drew Series" -- Installations


COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction

Brief outline of Hawaiian history—setting the stage

Reading: Hawaiian Almanac--Hawaiian chronology
  
1. What are the approximate boundaries of Moiliili? Do they remain the same over time?
2. What are the origins of the Moiliili place name?
3. What location was Vancouver writing about on page 35?
4. What are our assumptions about culture?


Field trips around the Moiliili community
--bring camera, notebook and sunscreen

1. The geology of Moiliili--the Manoa Stream, lo'i, Quarry Pond, Humane Society, and Kuhio School

2. The community institutions of Moiliili--Mauoki Heiau, ponds and caverns, Church of the Crossroads, Moiliili businesses, Moiliili Hongwanji, Moiliili Community Center, Hawaii Potters Guild
 

 

1 Reading the  Moiliili Landscape -- The Landscape  as Text

Readings: Chapter 1

Discussion questions:

1. In what ways does the landscape shape the historical and current community events?
2. In what ways were the early Haweaiian and Japanese American communities shaped by the landscape?
3. What is the significance of Moiliili being a walking community?

The Moiliili karst
A Moiliili sinkhole

The Quarry Pond
The Quarry face of the Moiliili Flow






2 Reading the Kamoiliili Hawaiian Community -- The Late 18th–Early 19th Century--The Recorded Layering of Human Occupation in Moiliili

Readings: Chapter 2
and
Kirch -- Feathered Gods --"Approaches to Hawaiian Prehistory" -- pp.7-15
Thrum--Thrum's Annual (opt.)
  
Discussion Questions

1.  How should we regard artifacts and cultural remnants in today's cultural climate--from an an art historian, archeologist, cultural practicioner, other (?) points of view?
2. Why did the mahi'ai (farmers) settle in the Moiliili Waikiki Waena?
3. What evidence of Hawaiian culture remains today? How do today's commiunity residents use or understand the Hawaiian agricultural or other cultural practices?
4. What was the importance of the Kamoiliili Church to the Hawaiian community?
5. What were the burial practices in the Kamoiliili Cemetery? Who was buried there? What were the ceremonies associated with it?

The lo'i (taro pondfields) at the University of Hawaii Center for Hawaiian Studies
The auwai (ditch) diverting Manoa Stream water to the lo'i (taro pondfields)


The Kamoiliili Church--Rice Memorial Chapel
Rice fields in Moiliili

for reference--Architecture in Hawaii Times--Hawaiian Hale:Port of Honolulu, 1816--Choris; Houses of the Governor of Kaiakekua, 1819--Alphonse Pelllion; Lahina, West Maui, Sandwich Islands, 1851--James Gay Sawkins; Interior of a House of a Chief, 1816--Choris; Interior of a House, Honolulu, Oahu, 1838--Auguste Borget
*

3 Reading the Earliest Japanese American Kamoiliili  

Readings: Chapter 4

Discussion questions:
1. How did the Japanese Issei come to settle in Moiliili?
2. What were the reasons for the Japanese Issei settlement?
3. Why did the Japanese American community thrive in Moiliili--consider sociology, economics, political science, cultural dimensions?


The Kashiwabara Family--the first Japanese Issei Family in Moiliili
The Omuro Blacksmith Shop

Early view of Kahuna Lane and Nakookoo Street area of Moiliili
A Moiliili yard


4. Reading the Beginnings of the Moiliili Town

Readings: Chapter 4 and 5
Harriet Natsuyama--"Carved in Stone"
Moiliili Japanese Cemetery materials

Discussion question:
1. What did these three institutions--the Japanese School, the Moiliili Hongwanji Mission, and the Japanese Cemetery-- mean to the Issei--and Nisei?

Discussion questions:
Sophomore Seminar Focus: TheMoiliili Japanese Cemetery--The City of the Dead"
1. How did the cemetery come about?
2. Why was the cemetery built in this location?
3. Who started it?
4. What are the cultural religious practices associated with the cemetery?
5. Who takes care of it? What is the economic upkeep or cost?
6. What was the impact on the cemetery when the City and County created Kapiolani Boulevard in 1933-34?

The seminar field research--The Moiliili Japanese Cemetery--The City of the Dead." We will spend several class periods recording all the grave markers in the Japanese Cemetery. We will compile GPS data, photographs, written notations, maps, oral histories, census and directory data. The seminar members will write significant primary source scholarly papers on the cemetery and its inhabitants.

The first Moiliili Hongwanji Mission
The presentday Moiliili Hongwanji Mission

The Japanese School with girls performing naginata
The Moiliili Japanese Cemetery



5 Reading Moiliili as a Part of the Larger Honolulu Community--Educating the Community

Readings: Chapter 5

Discussion questions:
1. How did/do these educational institutions serve the community?

Moiliili School
The new Moiliili School was renamed Kuhio School in 1923


Gardening at Mother Rice Kindergarten
The Girls Industrial School



6 Leisure Time Transformations in the Community 

Readings: Chapter 6

Discussion questions:
1. Why were/are leisure time activities a large part of Moiliili life?

A sumo tournament
Fishing on "horses" on the Ala Wai Canal

The old Honolulu Stadium
A baseball game honoring Yoshinao Omiya, who lost his sight in World War II

The Dreier Manor fire--home to Kumulae Ukuleles and later the St. Louis Alumni Association 
The Varsity Theater

Stadium Bowl-o-Drome
Ala Wai Community Garden


7 Moiliili Institutional Sanctuaries--The Moiliili Community Center, Churches and Temples, Humane Society, and McCully-Moiliili Library

Readings: Chapter 7 and Chapter 9

Discussion questions:
1. Why are these institutions sanctuaries?
2. What role do they fill in the Moiliili community? In the larger Honolulu community?



The Moiliili Community Center today
The remaining original Moiliili Japanese School building now called the Silent Dance Studio

Manapua man at Discover Moiliili Festival
The Humane Society

Church of the Crossroads
Buddhist stone at a former sanctuary



8 The Multi-faceted Business Community

Readings: Chapters 4, 8, 9, and 10

Discussion questions:
1. Charcoal making and pig raising were important businesses in the early Japanese American Moiliili--what changed?
2. What is the present business climate for community residents--and for University of Hawaii students?
3. What is the concept of "town and gown"?

Kuhio Grill
The Willows


Chunky's
Anna Bannanas

Puck's Alley
Maple Garden


9 Moiliili and Its National Interface

Readings: Chapter 8

Discussion questions:

1. How were Statehood and President Kennedy's visit transformative events for Moiliili?
2. What other national events transformed the community?



Statehood in Moiliili
President Kennedy in Moiliili, 1960



10 Moiliili Now

Readings: Chapters 3, 8, and 10

Discussion questions:
1. What is Moiliili's "sense of place"?
2. How will the transit oriented development affect Moiliili?
3. How will the closings of the Post Office and Star Market affect the community?
4. What is the night life in Moiliili? How is it different from the daytime activities?
5. How do the homeless affect the community?
6. How can we be a part of proactive change in Moiliili?

King Street false-front stores
The Moiliili Post Office

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii
The torii at Triangle Park






Laura Ruby
Department of Art and Art History, Office 348
2535 McCarthy Mall
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
(808) 956-5250
lruby@hawaii.edu

 

In progress: November 2009