Category: Autobiography & Biography

An Intellectual Biography of Jean-Marie Tjibaou

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Jean-Marie Tjibaou is arguably the most important post–World War II Oceanic leader. His intellectual abilities, acute understanding of both Melanesian and European civilizations, stature as a statesman, commitment to nonviolence, and vision for Melanesia’s potential contributions to the global community have all contributed to the creation of a remarkable and enduring legacy. Until now, no substantial English-language study has existed of Tjibaou, who was assassinated in 1989. This biography, by Eric Waddell, takes an essentially chronological approach to the Kanak (New Caledonia) leader—from his beginnings in the mountains of northern New Caledonia and his studies at the Sorbonne to his leadership of the independence movement in the Territory. The work focuses on the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual sources of Tjibaou’s ideas and actions as well as on those who were a source of inspiration to him.

Pacific Islands Monograph Series, No. 23
Published in association with the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i
September 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3314-5 / $25.00 (PAPER)

Hakka Soul

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Hakka Soul: Memories, Migrations, Meals, by Chin Woon Ping, chronicles the dreams, ambitions, and idiosyncrasies of her family, beginning with the death of her grandmother in pre-Independence Malaya. It was a tumultuous period when the occupying Japanese army had just been defeated, the British colonial government was losing its grip on the country, and a communist guerilla insurgency had broken out in the jungles of the Malay Peninsula. Her stories follow the family’s move to the United States and a journey to China to visit her father’s ancestral home.

Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies
August 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3289-6 / $24.00 (PAPER)

A Literature and Medicine Anthology

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Imagine What It’s Like: A Literature and Medicine Anthology, edited by Ruth Nadelhaft, with Victoria Bonebakker, grew out of Literature and Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care, a national award-winning reading and discussion program for health care professionals that, according to one participant, “renews the heart and soul of health care.” Started by the Maine Humanities Council in 1997, by the beginning of its second decade, Literature and Medicine has reached across the country, from Florida to Montana, Maine to Hawai‘i. Bringing together diverse groups of health care professionals in a variety of health care settings, Literature and Medicine discussions help participants deepen their communication and interpresonal skills while increasing their cultural awareness, empathy for patients, and job satisfaction.

May 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3317-6 / $19.95 (PAPER)

UH Press to Exhibit at the LA Times Festival of Books

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University of Hawai‘i Press will be participating in the 13th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, “the country’s largest celebration of the written word,” on April 26–27.

Leading off the festival will be an awards ceremony honoring recipients of the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, including the Kirsch Award, which honors a living author with a substantial connection to the American West and whose contribution to American letters deserves special recognition. Maxine Hong Kingston has been named the award’s 28th recipient. The Press is the publisher of Ms. Kingston’s memoir, Hawai‘i One Summer.

Reader Reaction to Combat Chaplain

Posted on by UH Press

A reader sends the following reaction to Combat Chaplain by Israel Yost:

Dear neighbors on the other side of the globe,

I want to personally thank the University of Hawai‘i Press for publishing Combat Chaplain by Israel Yost, and to thank Monica Yost and Michael Markrich for compiling and editing such a wonderfully well-told account of very tough times.

I work as a spiritual director near Naples, Italy, where I travel many of the paths that Chaplain Yost once did as I live near Avellino. I was surprised to find that I currently conduct spiritual retreats just a few miles from where he did his hardest work in Montecalvo Irpino, Italy.

Having been in combat myself, I am humbled at the harshness of the task facing the 100th Battalion, which lacked our modern protections and tactics. This book will greatly enrich the retreats I conduct here and I will encourage others to read it. I plan to drive the path he did while recollecting some of his thoughts while treading the same, now peaceful ground. We truly stand on the spiritual shoulders of such men as Israel Yost and those who tell his story. I now reap the benefits of the peace that he sought.

My prayers of thanks to the Lord for your book. May such stories be told over and over.

Ciao, most sincerely,
Bruce Mentzer

Mark Panek reading from Gaijin Yokozuna

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Mark Panek, author of Gaijin Yokozuna: A Biography of Chad Rowan, will read from his biography of the Hawai‘i-born sumotori on Tuesday, October 16, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in UCB 100 at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

Gaijin Yokozuna explores the changes in cultural identity that Waimanalo’s Chad Rowan made on his way to becoming sumotori Akebono, the first foreigner (gaijin) to reach the top rank, yokozuna (grand champion), in a sport that dates back to Japanese creation myths.

This special event is free and open to the public, but registration is required to fulfill grant conditions. Call 808-974-7664 for registration information.

The WWII Internment Memoirs of a Hawaii Issei

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Yasutaro Soga’s Life behind Barbed Wire (Tessaku seikatsu) is an exceptional firsthand account of the incarceration of a Hawai‘i Japanese during World War II. On the evening of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Soga, the editor of a Japanese-language newspaper, was arrested along with several hundred other prominent Issei (Japanese immigrants) in Hawai‘i. After being held for six months on Sand Island, Soga was transferred to an Army camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico, and later to a Justice Department camp in Santa Fe. He would spend just under four years in custody before returning to Hawai‘i in the months following the end of the war.

Most of what has been written about the detention of Japanese Americans focuses on the Nisei experience of mass internment on the West Coast—largely because of the language barrier immigrant writers faced. This translation, therefore, presents us with a rare Issei voice on internment, and Soga’s opinions challenge many commonly held assumptions about Japanese Americans during the war regarding race relations, patriotism, and loyalty.

October 2007 / ISBN 978-0-8248-2033-6 / $24.00 (PAPER)

First Among Nisei Book Launch

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A book launch celebrating the publication of First Among Nisei: The Life and Writings of Masaji Marumoto will be held on Saturday, July 21, 2007, at 10:30 a.m., at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, Teruya Courtyard, 2454 South Beretania Street, Honolulu. The book is written by University of Hawai‘i professor Dennis M. Ogawa, published by the Department of American Studies, UH, and the JCCH, and distributed by University of Hawai‘i Press. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information call (808) 945-7633 or email info@jcch.com.

The Life and Writings of One of Hawaii’s Most Distinguished Nisei

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Distributed for the Department of American Studies, University of Hawai‘i, and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, First Among Nisei: The Life and Writings of Masaji Marumoto, by Dennis M. Ogawa, is an account of the life and career of one of Hawai‘i’s most distinguished Nisei. Primarily based on oral histories, this book is an account of Marumoto’s life and career—from the time he was a child until he was well into his retirement years in the mid-1980s. Marumoto was the first person of Asian ancestry to graduate from Harvard Law School, the first Japanese American president of the Hawaii Bar Association, and the first Japanese American to serve on the Hawaii Supreme Court.

June 2007 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3141-7 / $25.00 (PAPER)

Dennis M. Ogawa is the author of Jan Ken Po: The World of Hawaii’s Japanese Americans and co-author with Glen Grant of Kodomo no tame ni/For the Sake of the Children: The Japanese American Experience in Hawaii, both published by University of Hawai‘i Press.

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