Category: Pacific

An Intellectual Biography of Jean-Marie Tjibaou

Posted on by stephchun


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)

Hawaii at the Crossroads

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Hawai‘i at the Crossroads of the U.S. and Japan before the Pacific War, edited by Jon Thares Davidann, tells the story of Hawai‘i’s role in the emergence of Japanese cultural and political internationalism during the interwar period. Following World War I, Japan became an important global power and Hawai‘i Japanese represented its largest and most significant emigrant group. During the 1920s and 1930s, Hawai‘i’s Japanese American population provided Japan with a welcome opportunity to expand its international and intercultural contacts. This volume, based on papers presented at the 2001 Crossroads Conference by scholars from the U.S., Japan, and Australia, explores U.S.–Japanese conflict and cooperation in Hawai‘i—truly the crossroads of relations between the two countries prior to the Pacific War.

August 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3225-4 / $49.00 (CLOTH)

Enjoying and Learning about Hawaii’s Sea Turtles

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The Book of Honu: Enjoying and Learning about Hawai‘i’s Sea Turtles, by Peter Bennett and Ursula Keuper-Bennett, is the first guide to finding and observing Hawaiian green turtles, or honu. It describes an exciting journey of discovery undertaken by two avid sports divers, Peter Bennett and Ursula Keuper-Bennett, who encountered their first honu twenty years ago while diving off Honokowai, Maui. The Bennetts soon realized that many honu (and green turtles worldwide) were afflicted with debilitating and potentially deadly tumors. They began to document the disease using photographs and videotape and in the process educated themselves about the daily lives of honu. To their surprise, they discovered they were the first to make prolonged observations of a marine turtle population in its natural habitat.

72 color illus.

A Latitude 20 Book
August 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3127-1 / $18.95 (PAPER)

Victoria Kneubuhl Book Signings in August

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Victoria Kneubuhl will be signing copies of her recently published book, the mystery novel Murder Casts a Shadow, at:

Barnes & Noble—Ala Moana Center, Saturday, August 16, 2:00 p.m.
Native Books/Na Mea Hawai‘i—Ward Warehouse, Thursday, August 21, 6:30–8:30 p.m. Group reading by the author and friends, songs by Ku‘uipo Kumukahi, light refreshments to follow.
Borders—Pearlridge, Saturday, August 23, 12 noon
Borders—Ward Center, Sunday, August 24, 2:00 p.m.

Victoria Kneubuhl is also the author of Hawai‘i Nei: Island Plays, published by University of Hawai‘i Press. Both books are available at the UH Press website for 20% off until September 1, 2008.

Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific

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What is globalization? How is it gendered? How does it work in Asia and the Pacific? The authors of the sixteen original and innovative essays presented in Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific: Method, Practice, Theory, edited by Kathy E. Ferguson and Monique Mironesco, take fresh stock of globalization’s complexities. They pursue critical feminist inquiry about women, gender, and sexualities and produce original insights into changing life patterns in Asian and Pacific Island societies. Each essay puts the lives and struggles of women at the center of its examination while weaving examples of global circuits in Asian and Pacific societies into a world frame of analysis. The work is generated from within Asian and Pacific spaces, bringing to the fore local voices and claims to knowledge.

August 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3241-4 / $35.00 (PAPER)

A Distinctive History of Haena

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Ha‘ena is a land steeped in antiquity yet vibrantly beautiful today as any Hollywood fantasy of a tropical paradise. He ‘aina momona, a rich and fertile land linked to the sea and the rising and setting sun, is a place of gods and goddesses: Pele and her sister, Hi‘iaka, and Laka, patron of hula. It epitomizes the best that can be found in the district of northwestern Kaua‘i, known to aboriginal Hawaiians as Hale Le‘a (House of Pleasure and Delight). Ha‘ena: Through the Eyes of Ancestors, by Carlos Andrade, is an ambitious attempt to provide a unique perspective in the complex story of the ahupua‘a of Ha‘ena.

July 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3119-6 / $30.00 (CLOTH)

Ways of Being and Place in Vanuatu

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The Other Side: Ways of Being and Place in Vanuatu, by John Patrick Taylor, is the first major ethnographic and historical study of the Sia Raga people of north Pentecost Island, a region that was home to the late Father Walter Lini, Vanuatu’s first prime minister. Exploring Raga social, spatial, and historical consciousness, this richly poetic account provides important theoretical contributions to ongoing debates in Pacific anthropology about the relation between structure and history, and place and time. It reveals important insights into the convergence of indigenous and exogenous cosmologies and hegemonies historically, and shows how these are implicated in contemporary social, ritual, and material cultural expressions. These analyses engage with broader concerns relating to colonial and postcolonial identities, political economy, and globalization in island Melanesia.

Pacific Islands Monograph Series, No. 22
July 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3302-2 / $52.00 (CLOTH)
Published in association with the Center for Pacific Islands, University of Hawai‘i

Grace Wins 2008 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

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Acclaimed Maori/New Zealand writer Patricia Grace will be honored as the 2008 laureate of the $50,000 Neustadt International Prize for Literature in ceremonies to be held September 19, 2008, at the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus. An international jury representing ten countries selected Grace as this year’s recipient of the award, which is sponsored by OU’s award-winning bimonthly magazine of international literature and culture, World Literature Today.

University of Hawai‘i Press is the North American publisher of all of Grace’s major work: Dogside Story (Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize, 2001), Baby No-Eyes, Cousins, Potiki (New Zealand Fiction Award, 1987), and most recently, Tu. The Press distributes Earth, Sea, Sky: Images and Maori Proverbs from the Natural World of Aotearoa New Zealand, written by Patricia Grace and Waiariki Grace and published by Huia Publishers.

Hawaii Murder Mystery

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New Year’s Eve, 1934. While Honolulu celebrates with champagne and fireworks, someone is making away with the Bishop Museum’s portrait of King Kalakaua and its curator. A series of brutal murders follows, and an unlikely pair, newspaper reporter Mina Beckwith and visiting playwright Ned Manusia, find themselves investigating a twisted trail of clues in an attempt to recover the painting and uncover the killer. Prewar Honolulu comes to life in Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl’s Murder Casts a Shadow, a thoroughly entertaining mystery that evokes a colorful bygone era.

Victoria Kneubuhl is the author of Hawai‘i Nei: Island Plays, published by University of Hawai‘i Press.

June 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3217-9 / $14.95 (PAPER)

Milton Murayama’s Latest: Dying in a Strange Land

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Milton Murayama’s long-awaited Dying in a Strange Land brings to a close the saga of the Oyama family. Familiar faces from All I Asking For Is My Body, Five Years on a Rock, and Plantation Boy return to advance the story from the years immediately following World War II to the 1980s. After her husband sinks them deep in debt, strong-willed and pragmatic Sawa takes charge of the family. The war ends and her children leave the plantation camp for Honolulu and the Mainland, but Sawa has little time for loneliness or regret. When asked by her neighbors if she misses them, she replies, “They must look for what they want.”

June 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3197-4 / $24.95 (PAPER)

Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition

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At the 1989 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, throngs of visitors gathered on the National Mall to celebrate Hawai‘i’s multicultural heritage through its traditional arts. The “edu-tainment” spectacle revealed a richly complex Hawai‘i few tourists ever see and one never before or since replicated in a national space. The program was restaged a year later in Honolulu for a local audience and subsequently inspired several spin-offs in Hawai‘i. In both Washington, D.C., and Honolulu, the program instigated a new paradigm for cultural representation. Based on archival research and extensive interviews with festival organizers and participants, American Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition by Heather A. Diamond, is an innovative cross-disciplinary study that uncovers the behind-the-scenes negotiations and processes that inform the national spectacle of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

June 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3171-4 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

Making Sense of AIDS in Melanesia

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In Melanesia, rates of HIV infection are among the highest in the Pacific and increasing rapidly, with grave humanitarian, development, and political implications. There is a great need for social research on HIV/AIDS in the region to provide better insights into the sensitive issues surrounding HIV transmission. Making Sense of AIDS: Culture, Sexuality, and Power in Melanesia, edited by Leslie Butt and Richard Eves, is the first book on HIV and AIDS in the Pacific region. It gathers together stunning and original accounts of the often surprising ways that people make sense of the AIDS epidemic in various parts of Melanesia. The volume addresses substantive issues concerning AIDS and contemporary sexualities, relations of power, and moralities—themes that provide a powerful backdrop for twenty-first century understandings of the tensions between sexuality, religion, and politics in many parts of the world.

“This is a powerful and courageous anthology. One of its great strengths is the powerful ethnography of sexuality contained in many of these essays, making it extremely timely. It shows that anthropology is alive, that the work of culture in confronting the myriad terrors of an incurable disease is daunting and fearful but part of the human condition that needs reporting in these societies. The essays are original and in some cases truly unique. Making Sense of AIDS contains extremely valuable, interesting, and important contributions.” —Gilbert Herdt, Center for Human Sexuality Studies, San Francisco State University

May 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3249-0 / $27.00 (PAPER)

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