Department of American Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa

The Center for Biographical Research presents: "Roots and Routes along Keaukaha’s Seashore: Tidalectic Repertoires of Place Halena Kapuni-Reynolds, Doctoral Candidate, Department of American Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mnoa Cosponsored by the Departments of History, Political Science, and Anthropology, the Museum Studies Program, and Hamilton Library... Thursday, October 22 from 12PM to 1:15PM (HST) via Zoom Meeting ID: 954 2305 5123 Password: EDV55r Meeting Link: https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/95423055123 This presentation examines two documented huakai hele (trips visiting storied places, known as wahi pana), led by Henry Nlimu and Mary Kaulionlani Pahio (Kaai) along Keaukaha's seashore. Drawing from Caribbean poet and philosopher Kamau Braithwaite's concept of tidalectics, as routed into the Pacific by literary scholar Elizabeth Deloughery, as well as performance studies scholar Diana Taylor’s concept of the repertoire, I consider the embodied and textual movement of these kpuna (elders) across this beloved coastline. Halena Kapuni-Reynolds was born on Hawaii Island and raised in the Hawaiian homestead community of Keaukaha and the upper rain forest of ‘la‘a. He is currently a doctoral student in museum studies and American studies at the University of Hawaii-Mnoa, and serves as the graduate assistant for the Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program. In 2019, he published "Na Pana Kaulana o Keaukaha: The Stories Places of Keaukaha," a chapter celebrating wahi pana (storied places) through huakai hele (sightseeing tours) in Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawaii (Duke University Press, 2019).

Sharing some great photos from our AMST huakai to Mauna Kea!

HULIMAHI: Cherishing the Land and Caring for Our Communities as Radical Curatorial Praxis DATE: Friday, October 30, 1:00pm HST on Zoom To join the panel, click on this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82929383180...Continue reading

In honor of Veterans Day, we are sharing an article written by one of our graduate students, Kevin Martin! https://www.civilbeat.org//our-veterans-have-a-right-to-m/

On July 16 and July 23, the Huakai Education Initiative will facilitate two conversations with ina-based education leaders, who will share stories about their work and offer strategies for facing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both events, hosted by Malia Nobrega-Olivera and Lei Anuenue, are free and open to the public. Panel 1: July 16, 11am-12pm... Chanel Wong (Papahana Kuaola) Kaleo Wong (Kauluakalana) Maya Saffery (Kauluakalana) Moderated by Logan Narikawa Panel 2: July 23, 11am-12pm Sayo Constantino(Mlama Loko Ea) Noeau Peralto(Hui Mlama i ke Ala lili) Andre Perez(Hanakhau Learning Farm) Moderated by Brandy Nlani McDougall Sponsorship is provided by Huakai Education Initiative (HEI) of the American Studies Department & Hawaiinuikea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. About the Huakai Education Initiative: The Huakai Education Initiative (HEI) of the American Studies Department is funded by the UHM Strategic Investment Competition. During the 2020-2021 school year, the Huakai Education Initiative will reorganize a large, undergraduate lecture class around students relationships to na and build relationships with ina-based educational sites across Oahu. At the conclusion of the school year, HEI will offer learned insights to other undergraduate faculty members across the University of Hawaii, interested in providing ina-based educational opportunities to their students as well as in developing reciprocal relationships with ina and na organizations. Facebook: facebook.com/huakaieducation

How do we continue to mlama ina and mlama our communities amidst this COVID-19 pandemic? ina based education leaders share the issues they face and the lessons they have learned from ina. Maya Saffery and Kaleo Wong (Kauluakalana, Kailua) Chanel Wong (Papahana Kuaola, Heeia) Moderated by Logan Narikawa... Sponsored by Huakai Education Initiative of the American Studies Department and Hawaiinuikea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at UHM.

AMST Statement in Solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter The UH American Studies Department shares the indignation and sorrows over the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and far too many others and stands in solidarity with our Black family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and their allies who are raising their voices against white supremacy. We condemn the ongoing anti-Black racism and police brutality and call for an end to the militarized police state at all levels. As a department dedicated to the understanding of U.S. history, society, and culture, we definitively reiterate that Black lives matter and renew our commitment to teaching, research, advocacy, and activism on interrelated issues of institutional racism, settler colonialism, militarism, heteropatriachy, and racial capitalism.

Sponsored by Huakai Education Initiative (HEI) of the American Studies Department and Hawaiinuikea School of Hawaiian Knowledge LIVE Thursday, July 23 11am- 12pm Kanaloa Bishop (Paepae o Heeia, Heeia), Sayo Costantino (Mlama Loko Ea, Kawailoa), Khaulani Kupihea (Mauli Ola Keehi, Mokauea), Andre Perez (Hanakhau, Waiawa)... Moderated by Logan Narikawa See more

Congratulations to Joseph Stanton on publication of his sixth book of poems, Moving Pictures! Moving Pictures was launched at several readings in New York City this summer. It is now available in Hawaii in the following bookstores: Da Shop (in Kaimuki), Barnes & Noble, and BookEnds (in Kailua), the Honolulu Museum of Arts Shop, and the UH Manoa Bookstore. At the Bookstore it is on display on the faculty books table. For more information about the book, please go to: https://www.shantiarts.co/uploa/files//STANTON_MOVING.html

Please join us for the following event: Seeding Authority: Continuing the Conversation on Decolonizing the Museum Thursday, November 7, 2019... Atherton Halau, Bishop Museum 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Join us for an engaging conversation as we consider the many ways in which museums are responding to national and global calls to decolonize. What factors are encouraging museums to move from ceding authority to seeding authority. For more information, please see the attached flyer.

AMST Statement in Support of Academic Labor United The UH American Studies Department recognizes the organizational work of Academic Labor United to demand better labor conditions for graduate student workers. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires the University to provide employees--including GAs and lecturers--who are unable to work from home with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 through December... 2020. However, as we enter times of increasing hardship, especially for those working as adjuncts or GAs, we need to do more. The department endorses Academic Labor United’s March 2020 petition for sick leave and other support, and we believe these basic rights should extend beyond COVID-19. In the face of the uncertainties of our working environment in Fall 2020 and beyond, we recognize ever more clearly that the need for sick leave and collective bargaining rights, as well as for guaranteed mental and physical health care, is a matter of public health and safety, as well as a way to support graduate students’ basic needs and well being. We further urge the University Administration to take into account the similar needs of adjunct faculty, including for comprehensive health care and sick leave.

Here is the link to the article in the University of Hawaii News regarding Haunani-Kay Trasks receipt of the Angela Y. Davis award: https://www.hawaii.edu//2/11/12/trask-awarded-davis-prize/

Please join us for the following event: The Spectacle of Child Separation: A History Laura Briggs University of Hawaii at Manoa, KUY 410... Tuesday, November 12, 2019 2 - 4 p.m. Abstract: In the Spring and summer of 2018, the world watched as the Trump administration separated the children of asylum-seekers from the parents who crossed the southwestern border. While some, like the policys architect, Stephen Miller, apparently sought in a high-visibility spectacle, and a number of cabinet members produced photo ops in Texas for the "zero tolerance" policy, most members of the administration said they believed that the details of the border policy would remain largely unnoticed. They were wrong. Journalists, activists, and even religious groups circulated photos of children--as they were separated, in detention, alone at asylum hearings. This talk explores why it became a visual spectacle. It argues that the historical legacy of the abolition movement prepared the ground for those opposed to the policy to use images of children torn from their parents. On the other side, it suggests how the "before and after" photos from Indian Boarding Schools played a similar historical role for those on the far right who also sought high visibility for the border-separation policy. As Faulkner suggested, the past isnt dead. Its not even past--and the spectacle of child separation suggests both how that is true and why it continues to matter. For more information, please see the attached flyer.

In "Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawaii," a new book from Duke University Press on sale in November, co-editors Hklani K. Aikau and Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez use the concept of the tourist guidebook, a genre that has long dominated writing about Hawaii, to encourage people to rethink their understanding of Hawaii and their relationship to it. Detours is celebrating its launch on Saturday, November 9 at the Waiwai, 7-9 p.m. Food and awai will be served until gone!... There will be a program spread out over 2 hours, followed by a karaoke fundraiser for the mauna from 9-11. Seattle Times has covered Detours: https://www.seattletimes.com//much-more-than-a-tropical-/