University of Hawai'i
University Relations
Media & Publications
Honolulu, HI 96822
(808) 956-8856 Telephone
(808) 956-3441 Facsimile
ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:
October 4, 1999
Contact: Tisha Hickson, 9562652
| |
University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
October 4, 1999 |
Contact: Tisha Hickson, 9562652
|
| Albert Wendt to be keynote speaker at Pacific Islands Studies Conference |
World-renowned poet, novelist, and short story writer Albert Wendt will be the keynote speaker at the twentyfourth annual University of Hawai'i Pacific Islands Studies Conference, 20-23 October 1999. "Out of Oceania" is the title of Wendt's presentation and the theme for the conference, which will look at the growing communities of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and elsewhere and the ties they maintain with their home islands. Albert Wendt was raised in Samoa and educated in New Zealand, and is Professor of English at the University of Auckland. He is the Arthur Lynn Andrews Distinguished Visiting Professor of Asian and Pacific Studies at UH Manoa this fall. Wendt is the author of five novels, three short story collections, three poetry collections, three plays, and many essays on Pacific literature. A number of his works feature themes of leaving home and crossing cultural boundaries. His talk is at 9 am on 20 October at the Imin Conference Center, 1777 East West Road.
The conference will feature a wide array of international speakers who will address the dynamics of identity, cultural performance, networks and communities, adoption, and remittances in Hawaiian, Tongan, Samoan, and Marshallese communities away from home. Registration for the conference is $20 for general audience and $5 for students, with Wendt's keynote address open to the public free of charge. Other featured speakers will be Hawaiian cultural studies scholar J Kehaulani Kauanui and Samoan writer Sia Figiel. Deadline to register for the conference is 11 October. For more information contact the Center for Pacific Islands Studies in the School of Hawaiian, Asian & Pacific Studies, 9567700, or visit the conference website at www.hawaii.edu/cpis/conference.
