Creating Futures Rooted In Wonder: Indigenous, Sci Fi and Fairy Tale Studies

September 16, 2015 - September 19, 2015
Mānoa Campus, Various Locations, See Schedule for Details

Scholars, students, creative writers, performers, filmmakers, activists, and community members, from Moananuiākea and Turtle Island, will come together for a four-day symposium that seeks to strengthen our rootedness in the stories of our past and inspire us to imagine just and sustainable futures. What is the value of bridging Indigenous, Science Fiction, and Fairy Tale Studies? How does wonder help us imagine and create more just and sustainable futures?

Wednesday, Sept 16, 2015

6:30 – 9:30 pm – Shidler BUSAD A102
Free film screening of The Pā Boys, followed by skype Q & A with Writer and Director Himiona Grace from Aotearoa "The Pā Boys is an energetic, uplifting road movie capturing the best of New Zealand's culture, beauty, talent and music, whilst exploring themes of identity, friendship and discovering your roots.”
Moderated by Vilsoni Hereniko and Alexander Mawyer.

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015

3:00 – 4:45 pm – Kuykendall 410
Opening Roundtable Discussion
Speakers: Cristina Bacchilega, Grace Dillon, Kamuela Enos, Jon Osorio, and Nisi Shawl With Special Issue Speakers: Kelsey Amos, Stina Attebery, Michael Lujan Bevacqua, Lianne Charlie, Candace Fujikane, Andrea Hairston, and Brandy Nālani McDougall. Moderated by Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada.

5:00 – 6:00 pm – Kuykendall 409
Relax, connect, and be inspired in our Video Game and Comic Book Lounge, featuring media by Solomon Enos, Skins Video Games (Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace project), and fan remix videos curated by Anne Kustritz.
Facilitated by Scott Kaʻalele, Graphic Novel Editor of Hawaiʻi Review.

7:00 – 8:30 pm – BUSAD A102
Film and Media Showcase, featuring shorts curated by Grace Dillon and Beth LePensée, fan remix videos curated by Anne Kustritz, TimeTraveller™ machinima by Skawennati, and student and faculty shorts by the Academy for Creative Media.
Moderated by Vilsoni Hereniko and Alexander Mawyer.

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015

“Workshops” Please join us for small group discussion and activities around the challenging and creative work of imagining just and sustainable futures. Each “workshop” will be led by a pair of facilitators who will be sharing tools and ideas from their art/activism/writing/filmmaking/scholarship/performance work. No expertise or materials required to attend, but please bring your open and courageous passion!

10:30 – 12:00 pm – Kamakakūokalani 201 / Hālau – Concurrent Workshop Sessions

1. Creating Futures: Visual Art /Film, by Grace Dillon and Jason Lewis
In this workshop we will look at some of the ways film makers, visual artists and media creators have been exploring the relation of Indigenous storytelling traditions to science fiction, and ask participants to explore how they can apply this to their own ways of connecting the past to the future.

2. Creating Futures: Writing, by Nisi Shawl and Reina Whaitiri
Voicing Wonder through Lineage and Landscape
Using words and images, tell the world how fabulously your ancestors have expressed themselves in giving you the gift of life, or voice the power and beauty of your home's natural features as divine forces. Drawing, collage, dialogue, and interview will be used to help both established and emerging artists and writers in an exploration of the stories and pictures to be found deep within yourselves and everywhere outside.

12:30 – 1:30 pm – Kamakakūokalani 202
Relax, connect, and be inspired in our Video Game and Comic Book Lounge, featuring media by Solomon Enos, Skins Video Games (Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace project), and fan remix videos curated by Anne Kustritz.
Facilitated by Scott Kaʻalele, Graphic Novel Editor of Hawaiʻi Review.

1:30 – 3:00 pm – Kamakakūokalani 201 / Kamakakūokalani 202 – Concurrent Workshop Sessions

1. Creating Futures: Community Organizing, by Michael Lujan Bevacqua and Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua
Join us for activities and strategies for imagining sovereign and demilitarized futures in the Pacific, based on community organizing in Hawaiʻi nei and Guåhan.

2. Creating Futures: Visual Art/Film, by Solomon Enos and Sherryl Vint
Propagating Hopeful Futures in Indigenous Wisdom and Science Fiction
This workshop will explore the power of media to translate ancient sustainability into hopeful futures. It will involve participants in creating stories that explore the utopian traces in daily life. Creating your own stories is part of living sustainably, and we will explore ways that indigenous worldviews and utopian elements in science fiction use the power of narrative to tie the past to better futures.

3:30 – 5:00 pm – Hālau o Haumea
Reflections and Responses Roundtable Discussion, featuring Hailiʻōpua Baker, kuʻualoha hoʻomanawanui, Sadhana Naithani, Jill Rudy, Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard, and Reina Whaitiri. Moderated by Craig Santos Perez.

5:30 – 8:00 pm – Hālau o Haumea
Literature and Performance Showcase, featuring dåko-ta alcantara-camacho, Walidah Imarisha, Emelihter Kihleng, Victoria Nālani Kneubuhl, Nisi Shawl, and Gabriel Teodros. Emceed by Brandy Nālani McDougall and Craig Santos Perez
Free pūpū, and books for sale!

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015

9:30 – 11:00 – Kamakakūokalani 210 / 207 – Concurrent Workshop Sessions

1. Creating Futures: Writing, by Walidah Imarisha and Gabriel Teodros
Collective Sci-Fi Writing Workshop
After a brief presentation on the larger themes of sci fi and social change, Octavia's Brood co-editor Walidah Imarisha and contributor Gabriel Teodros will lead participants through a collective story-telling/writing workshop where they create collective and individual stories based on current political/social issues.

2. Creating Futures: Performance, by dåko-ta alcantara-camacho and Jocelyn Ng
In the first part of this workshop, we will explore how written works can be transformed into spoken word and performance pieces. In the second part of the workshop, we will explore how collaborative song, story, and dance can connect us to the past and future.

11:30 – 12:30 pm – Hālau o Haumea
Closing Reflections Roundtable Discussion: Imagining Just and Sustainable Futures, and Next Steps, featuring Marie Alohalani Brown, Walidah Imarisha, Michelle Raheja, John Rieder, and Ida Yoshinaga. Moderated by Kamuela Enos.

Mahalo nui!

This symposium is grateful for support from: Gladys Brandt Chair in Polynesian Studies; Reading Series of the Creative Writing Program; SSHRC Partnership Development Grant 890-2013-17 Initiative for Indigenous Futures; Kamehameha Publishing; SEED IDEAS; Arts & Sciences Expanding the Student Experience Fund; Joseph Keene Chadwick Endowment Fund; UHF; Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Academy for Creative Media, Department of American Studies, Department of English, Department of Political Science & Indigenous Politics Program, Department of Religion, and the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.


Event Sponsor
English, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 358-0871, aikoy@hawaii.edu

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