Category: Hawaii

Gerald Horne Events in San Francisco & Oakland

Posted on by stephchun

Fighting in ParadiseGerald Horne, the author of the recent Fighting in Paradise: Labor Unions, Racism, and Communists in the Making of Modern Hawai‘i, will be in San Francisco and Oakland next month for two events:

Saturday, October 1, 11 am
ILWU Local 10 Union Hall, 200 North Point
Professor Horne will also talk about his earlier book The White Pacific: U.S. Imperialism and Black Slavery in the South Seas after the Civil War, published by UH Press in 2007.

Sunday, October 2, 2pm
Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave.
The presentation is entitled “Communists in Paradise? Racism and Radicalism in the Making of Modern Hawaii (and a US President).”

Upcoming Author Events in September

Posted on by stephchun

Carlos Andrade, author of Ha‘ena: Through the Eyes of Ancestors, will discuss how ancient and other points of view accumulate over time to create a unique story and sense of place. The event, “Telling the Story of Place: Ha‘ena,” will be held at the Kaua‘i Historical Society on Friday, September 16, at 5:30 pm. For more details, go to http://kauaihistoricalsociety.org/events/.

John Clark will be at Kaimuki Library on Sunday, September 18, to talk about his latest book, Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past. Go to HawaiiNewsNow for more information: http://urbanhonolulu.hawaiinewsnow.com/news/arts-culture/66825-meet-hawaiian-surfing-author-kaimuki-library.

The Japanese American National Museum will host a discussion by ShiPu Wang, author of Becoming American? The Art and Identity Crisis of Yasuo Kuniyoshi, on Saturday, September 24, at 2:00 pm. Check the JANM event calendar: http://www.janm.org/events/2011/09/24/ibecoming-american-the-art-and-identity-crisis-of-yasuo-kuniyoshii-by-shipu-wang/.

More Hawaiian Surfing News

Posted on by stephchun

Clark on Creativity ShowHawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past author John Clark will be a guest on The Creativity Salon, hosted by Neil Tepper on ‘Olelo Channel 52. The program “celebrates the creative arts and the art of living a creative life” in Hawai‘i. The episode airs Friday, August 19, at 8pm HST and repeats on August 23 and 30 at 12:30pm HST. It streams live during those times at http://olelo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=91 and will be archived at the show’s website. **Viewers will be invited to email the show to enter a drawing for a free, autographed copy of Hawaiian Surfing. Watch the show for details!

Hawaiian Surfing was also recently reviewed in MidWeek by Hawai‘i sportscaster Ron Mizutani, who calls the book:

“One of the most remarkable references I’ve ever seen and one that will be used by generations to come. The Hawaiian-English dictionary of surfing terms and Waikiki place names related to surfing reveal Clark’s true love for the sport. You will be amazed by what he has gathered.”

Photo: John Clark (left) and Neil Tepper. (Courtesy of The Creativity Salon)

New Edition of Hawaii (The Big Island) Map

Posted on by stephchun

Map of Hawaii, 8th EditionThe wait is over! The 8th edition of the Map of Hawai‘i (The Big Island), part of James A. Bier’s authoritative series, Reference Maps of the Islands of Hawai‘i, is available.

Some features of the Big Island map:
— detailed network of roads;
— large-scale inset maps of towns;
— points of interest and historical importance, both natural and cultural;
— hiking trails, parks, and beaches;
— waterfalls, peaks, and ridges (with altitudes) and many other natural features;
— more than 2,200 place-names, with index;
— Hawaiian words spelled with all accent marks (an exclusive feature).

August 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3439-5 / $4.95

Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii Back in Print

Posted on by stephchun

Manual of the Flowering PlantsManual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i, by Warren L. Wagner, Derral R.Herbst, and S. H. Sohmer, is available once again. The reprinting of the 2-volume revised edition, “the most significant botanical publication on Pacific plants in recent decades” (Flora Vitiensis Nova), was made possible by funding from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of National History Publication Fund and Walcott Botanical Fund.

Praise for the first edition:
“The most complete and beautifully presented manual that this reviewer has ever seen. It will be an indispensable tool for serious students of the flora of Hawaii.” —Choice

“A very important tool for years to come for botanists studying the floristic and biogeographic questions involving these islands. The authors of this two volume set are to be commended on the production of a significant contribution to the understanding of an extremely interesting flora.” —Phytologia

American Aloha Now Available in Paperback

Posted on by stephchun

American Aloha

“Until now our only look at folk festivals has been through the eyes of visitors or through the insider eyes of folklorists and others who practice ‘public folklore and folklife’ as they have worked on such festivals. Diamond’s fine book places the reader between those two poles of naïve appreciation and heavily-invested, insider commentary.” —The Yearbook for Traditional Music

“A critical, multi-vocal case study that explores tradition, representation, cultural commodification, identity, tourism, sovereignty, and nationalism through the processes and outcomes of culture brokering for public consumption. . . . American Aloha will interest a broad readership interested in Hawaiian culture and history, museums, representation, tourism, and the construction of nationalism. Diamond’s skill at weaving theoretical themes with detailed data and anecdotes makes the book read like a collection of personal memories and characters with whom the reader can identify.” —The Contemporary Pacific

July 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3616-0 / $21.00 (PAPER)

Labor Unions, Racism, and Communists in the Making of Modern Hawaii

Posted on by stephchun

Fighting in Paradise
Powerful labor movements played a critical role in shaping modern Hawai‘i, beginning in the 1930s, when International Longshore and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) representatives were dispatched to the islands to organize plantation and dock laborers. The wartime civil liberties crackdown brought union organizing to a halt; but as the war wound down, Hawai‘i workers’ frustrations boiled over, leading to an explosive success in the forming of unions. During the 1950s, just as the ILWU began a series of successful strikes and organizing drives, the union came under McCarthyite attacks and persecution. Based on exhaustive archival research in Hawai‘i, California, Washington, and elsewhere, Fighting in Paradise: Labor Unions, Racism, and Communists in the Making of Modern Hawai‘i, by Gerald Horne, is the gripping story of Hawaii workers’ struggle to unionize; it reads like a suspense novel as it details for the first time how radicalism and racism helped shape Hawaii in the twentieth century.

“Gerald Horne offers readers an eye-opening account explaining how the labor movement and the left played decisive roles in moving Hawai‘i from feudal colony to the most progressive state in the union. Deeply researched and highly textured, Fighting in Paradise should be required reading for all citizens, Mainlanders especially, who seek to extricate our increasingly multicultural nation from its contemporary difficulties.” —Nelson Lichtenstein, Director, Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy, University of California, Santa Barbara

July 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3549-1 / $28.99 (PAPER)

Author Talks and Signings by John Clark and Isaiah Walker

Posted on by stephchun

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

Posted on by stephchun

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.

Restoring the King

Posted on by stephchun

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.

The Evolution of Culture and Ethnicity in Hawaii

Posted on by stephchun

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)

MENU