Lonely was Puʻuloa when Ka'ahupāhau went away

September 28, 12:00pm - 1:15pm
Mānoa Campus, Kuykendall 409A Add to Calendar

This is the story of the transformation of Ke Awalau o Puʻuloa into "Pearl Harbor" as told through four entangled lives: an industrialist whose wealth came from radically altering the landscape of Hawaiʻi; a Native Hawaiian engineer who tried to mitigate the environmental and cultural destruction he was a party to; a kumu hula at the dawn of militourism in the islands who parlayed her Hawaiian cultural knowledge into greater socioeconomic mobility; and a shark goddess who was the protector of ʻEwa. When the Pearl Harbor Dry Dock imploded in 1913, many believed it to be the "revenge" of the shark goddess. Dreams of Pearl Harbor becoming the hub of an expanding American empire might have ended in swirling mud and ruins, but the desire for profit and power was too strong. The project was resurrected, this time enlisting Native Hawaiians to help spiritually clear the way. How is this story relevant today?

Kyle Kajihiro is a Ph.D. candidate in Geography at UHM and a Graduate Assistant in Ethnic Studies. He studies the impacts of militarization and resistance in Hawaiʻi. He is involved in demilitarization activism with Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice.


Event Sponsor
Center for Biographical Research, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 956-3774, biograph@hawaii.edu, http://www.facebook.com/CBRHawaii

Share by email