Author: stephchun

Author Talks and Signings by John Clark and Isaiah Walker

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John R. K. Clark will present his eighth and newest book, Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past, on Sunday, July 17, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., at Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i at Ward Warehouse (‘ewa end, 1050 Ala Moana Boulevard, phone: 597-8967). His informative talk will be followed by a book signing, refreshments, and informal discussion. The public is invited to attend this free presentation and books will be available for purchase.

On Friday, July 22, noon to 4:00 p.m., John Clark will participate in the “Authors Book Signing” at the 2011 Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction at Blaisdell Center. For more information, go to http://hawaiiansurfauction.com/.

Hawaiian Surfing in the New York Times

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Hawaiian Surfing
John Clark’s Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past is the focus of today’s New York Times editorial “Big Boards, Banana Stalks, and Everybody in the Waves.” Here’s a quote:

“Two new books and a documentary film, all out this year, are reclaiming the story of surfing as Hawaiians once knew it. They are telling the neglected tale of one little world, on eight little islands—surfing before outsiders took it to California and far beyond. ‘Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions From the Past’ is the most startling of the three. . . . Tracing every reference he can find to surfing, beaches and waves in the Hawaiian language, Mr. Clark shows surfing as a social sport played on a scale unimaginable anywhere today.”

The other book mentioned in the article is UH Press’s very own Waves of Resistance: Surfing and History in Twentieth-Century Hawai‘i by Isaiah Helekunihi Walker.

Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook

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Japanese Philosophy
The idea for Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook can be traced back to 1980, when Thomas Kasulis (then assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i) dreamed of putting together an anthology focused directly on Japanese philosophical thought. Thirty-one years later, Kasulis and his fellow editors James Heisig and John Maraldo have produced what will be an essential reference for English readers interested in traditional or contemporary Japanese culture and the way it has shaped and been shaped by its great thinkers over the centuries. The story behind the Sourcebook’s development, which involved dozens of scholars from around the world, can be found in the Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture Bulletin 35 (2011).

July 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3552-1 / $70.00 (CLOTH)

New Catalog Available: New Books Fall 2011-Spring 2012

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New Books 2011-2012
The UH Press New Books Fall 2011-Spring 2012 catalog is now available! To view the 5.4M PDF, click on the catalog cover image to the left.

Highlights for Fall 2011 include:

* A handy guide to “power foods”: fruits, vegetables, and nuts that could save your life (Eat Smart, Stay Well)

* The story behind the conservation of  the Big Island’s King Kamehameha statue and its meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au (The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i)

* John Clark’s history of traditional Hawaiian surfing (Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past)

* The second Mina Beckwith and Ned Manusia murder mystery from Victoria Kneubuhl (Murder Leaves Its Mark)

* A penetrating, personal look at the effects of colonialism, poverty, and drug addiction in Hawai‘i (Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior)

* An illustrated compilation of traditional Hawaiian design (Links to the Past: The Work of Early Hawaiian Artisans)

* A work celebrating the philosophy and way of life of Native Hawaiian culture (No Na Mamo: Traditional and Contemporary Hawaiian Beliefs and Practices)

* An exploration of the cultural logic behind the custom of burning paper money in China and elsewhere (Burning Money: The Material Spirit of the Chinese Lifeworld)

* The history of one of the most important movements in modern Japanese art (Maximum Embodiment: Yoga, and the “Western Painting” of Japan, 1912-1955)

* A literary introduction to the Vietnamese-American experience (My Viet: Vietnamese-American Literature in English, 1962–Present)

* A long-awaited work that uncovers the richness and diversity of Japanese philosophy in a single volume (Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook)

Restoring the King

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Glenn WhartonGlenn Wharton, the author of the forthcoming UH Press book The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i, was back in Kapa‘au on the Big Island to celebrate Kamehameha Day (June 11). His visit was covered in the North Hawai‘i News: http://northhawaiinews.com/news/restoring-the-king.html.

The Painted King is Wharton’s account of his efforts to conserve the Kohala Kamehameha statue, but it is also the story of his journey to understand the statue’s meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au. His book will be published in September.

Nuclear Power in Japan

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In recent months UH Press author Martin Dusinberre has written online editorial pieces on the history and future of Japan’s nuclear program for Reuters, the History Workshop, and The Guardian.

Dusinberre is lecturer in modern Japanese history at Newcastle University, UK. He is the author of the forthcoming Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan, available March 2012.

Hard Times in the Hometown tells the story of Kaminoseki, a small town on Japan’s Inland Sea. Once one of the most prosperous ports in the country, Kaminoseki fell into profound economic decline following Japan’s reengagement with the West in the late nineteenth century. Using a recently discovered archive and oral histories collected during his years of research in Kaminoseki, Martin Dusinberre reconstructs the lives of households and townspeople as they tried to make sense of their changing place in the world. In challenging the familiar story of modern Japanese growth, Dusinberre provides important new insights into how ordinary people shaped the development of the modern state. His account comes to a climax when, in the 1980s, the town’s councillors request the construction of a nuclear power station, unleashing a storm of protests from within the community. This ongoing nuclear dispute has particular resonance in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima crisis.

June Sale on Cornell East Asia Series Titles

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Cornell logoUniversity of Hawai‘i Press is a worldwide distributor of the Cornell East Asia Series (CEAS), published by the Cornell East Asia Program. For the entire month of June, order a CEAS book at full price and receive a second CEAS book (excluding series volumes 144-158) of equal or lesser value free!

Click here to view all CEAS titles distributed by UH Press.

**We are not accepting CEAS sale orders at our website, so please email, call (toll-free 1-888-847-7377), or fax (toll-free 1-800-650-7811) the UH Press Business Department with your order.

E-Books from Three Pines Press

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Three Pines Press logoUniversity of Hawai‘i Press is a worldwide distributor for Three Pines Press, a publisher of Daoist studies headed by Dr. Livia Kohn. Digital editions of select Three Pines Press titles are now available for purchase through Tao Library: http://tao-library.com/store/

The site is currently offering visitors a free e-book valued at $12.00; go to Tao Library to claim your gift.

Confucian Role Ethics

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Confucian Role Ethics
Confucian Role Ethics: A Vocabulary, by Roger T. Ames, is an exploration of what constitutes and how one becomes an authentic, moral human being as conceived in the Confucian tradition. The book establishes an interpretive context by exploring some of the cosmological foundations of Confucian philosophy through discussion of commentary on the Yijing (The Book of Changes), Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Chinese cosmology. The author proceeds to delineate the morals and ideals of a Confucian life and its foundation in feelings of familial intimacy and its human-centered religiousness. These ideas are contrasted with the principle and virtue based traditions of the Abrahamic religions as well as of the individualistic tradition beginning in ancient Greece. Lastly, Ames attempts to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of Confucian role ethics as articulated in the early canonical texts, discussing both its return to prominence and feasibility as a system of ethical conduct for the present day.

April 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3576-7 / $31.00 (PAPER)

Masterpieces from the Papua New Guinea National Museum

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Living Spirits
On the eve of Papua New Guinea’s attainment of independence from Australia, Chief Minister Michael Somare referred to the new nation’s cultural treasures as “living spirits with fixed abodes.” He was referring to the prevailing belief of Papua New Guineans that everything is invested with spirit, not least the objects carved, modeled, or constructed for ceremonial, and often everyday, use. The Masterpieces Exhibition includes the most significant cultural treasures on display at the Papua New Guinea’s national museum. Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes, edited by Barry Craig, gives the reader a thorough account of each of the exhibition’s 209 pieces.

April 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3151-6 / $80.00 (CLOTH)

The Evolution of Culture and Ethnicity in Hawaii

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People and Cultures of Hawaii
People and Cultures of Hawaii: The Evolution of Culture and Ethnicity, edited by John F. McDermott and Naleen Naupaka Andrade, is a significant update to the highly influential text People and Cultures of Hawaii: A Psychocultural Profile. Since its publication in 1980, the immigrant groups it discusses in depth have matured and new ones have been added to the mix. The present work tracks the course of these changes over the past twenty years, constructing a historical understanding of each group as it evolved from race to ethnicity to culture.

Individual chapters begin with an overview of one of fifteen groups. Following the development of its unique ethnocultural identity, distinctive character traits such as temperament and emotional expression are explored—as well as ethnic stereotypes. Also discussed are modifications to the group’s ethnocultural identity over time and generational change—which traits may have changed over generations and which are more hardwired or enduring. An important feature of each chapter is the focus on the group’s family social structure, generational and gender roles, power distribution, and central values and life goals. Readers will also find a description of the group’s own internal social class structure, social and political strategies, and occupational and educational patterns. Finally, contributors consider how a particular ethnic group has blended into Hawai‘i’s culturally sensitive society.

May 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3580-4 / $23.00 (PAPER)

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