Note: This section has an enrollment maximum of
60. It is designed to interest
non-English majors, but it can be applied toward the major or minor as well.
In
this course, we will be reading literatures written by a broad range of writers
who focus on the importance of the languages, cultures, and knowledges that
shape and are shaped by Hawai‘i as a place.
We will first examine the ways that Kanaka ‘Ōiwi writers like Queen Lili‘uokalani trace their genealogies
back to the kulāiwi, the
ancestral lands, and continue to use forms of mo‘olelo in their written
narratives. By contrast, many other narratives emerged from efforts in the
1970s to define a “local” identity in community struggles to protect leased
agricultural lands slated for commercial and urban development. Visual texts of local solidarity in
newspapers show people linking their arms in a human blockade across Kamehameha
Highway in front of the Waiāhole Poi Factory in protest against the
police-enforced eviction of farmers. We will then map out the changing
historical and political contexts in which the terms “local” and “settler” have
emerged, partly out of literary debates over race, power, and representation. Throughout the course, we will be asking
ourselves questions about the alternative forms of narrative that Hawai‘i
writers use to address their cultural and political concerns. We will discuss the complexities
of local communities, such as the
survival strategies of a young local Filipino boy growing up gay and
working-class in Kalihi and the sexual trafficking of Korean women to the local
bar system in Hawai‘i that is the legacy of Japanese and U.S. militarism in
Korea. Throughout the course, we will be asking
ourselves questions about the alternative forms of narrative that Hawai‘i
writers use to address their cultural and political concerns.
This course has a Hawaiian and Asian or
Pacific Issues (HAP) Focus designation.
Hawaiian and Asian issues are fully integrated into the main course
material and will constitute at least 2/3 of the course content.
Requirements: Two
mid-term exams, a final exam, seven scheduled quizzes, attendance and
participation.
Required Texts
(available at Revolution Books): Ho‘oulumāhiehie, The Epic Tale of
Hi‘iakaikapoliopele; Queen Lili‘uokalani, Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen;excerpted stories and poems from Chock, Harstad, Lum and Teter, Growing Up Local; R. Zamora Linmark, Rolling the R’s;Nora Okja Keller, Fox Girl; Lee Cataluna, Folks
You Meet in Longs; Candace Fujikane and Jonathan Okamura, eds., Asian Settler Colonialism: From Local
Governance to the Habits of Everyday Life in Hawai‘i; ‘Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian
Journal, Vol. 4.
A required course reader will include works by Noelani
Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, Linda
Revilla, Noenoe Silva, Tony Lee, Gizelle Gajelonia, Ann Kapulani Landgraf, Mark
Hamasaki, Dennis Kawaharada, Keanu Sai, Darrell Lum, Judy Rohrer, Lois-Ann
Yamanaka, Alice Chai, Richard Hamasaki, Ann Kapulani Landgraf, Sucheng Chan,
Eric Yamamoto, Walter Ritte, and others.
The course reader will be available during the second week of classes.