News and Events

University of Hawai‘i Press proudly announces the publication of its first born-digital, open-access monograph: JoAnna Poblete’s Balancing the Tides: Marine Practices in American Sāmoa, now available in both complimentary electronic and for-purchase print formats.

About the Book
“Poblete’s Balancing the Tides is remarkable for its focus on the impact of U.S. federal policies in American Sāmoa. Whether she is discussing federal minimum wage debates or examining federal fishing regulations, Poblete shows how Americans and Sāmoans alike shape and are shaped by the forceful and sometimes flexible nature of U.S. federal marine-related management in American Sāmoa.” —Keith L. Camacho, UCLA

Balancing the Tides highlights the far-reaching influence of marine practices and policies in the unincorporated territory of American Sāmoa on the local indigenous group, the American fishing industry, U.S. environmental programs, and on global discussions about ecology and indigenous communities. Each chapter of the book highlights a type of ocean-use policy or marine-related practice in American Sāmoa to demonstrate how American colonial efforts to protect natural resources intersect with indigenous adherence to customary principles of respect, reciprocity, and native rights. Poblete’s study ultimately connects the U.S.-American Sāmoa colonial relationship to global overfishing, world consumption patterns, the for-profit fishing industry, international environmental movements and studies, as well as native experiences and indigenous rights.

More information on this project
“Balancing the Tides is sophisticated scholarship that investigates timely issues at the forefront of conversations in and outside of the academy,” said UH Press executive editor Masako Ikeda. “This makes it an especially well-suited book for OA; by making electronic copies available for download at no cost, we hope Dr. Poblete’s research about American Sāmoa will be more readily available to the people there, as well as to other important audiences, including policy makers and students.”

The first UH Press title to be released in OA prior to the print edition, Poblete’s book is produced through the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, an initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that seeks to develop a viable model for publishing high-quality scholarship in OA format by employing new production technologies. “The OA edition of Balancing the Tides is really a landmark event,” said interim director Joel Cosseboom. “It not only sets a precedent for OA publishing at UH Press, but also contributes to our goal of serving indigenous communities throughout the Pacific.”

Other UH Press titles forthcoming from the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot will address the histories of Vietnam, Korea, and Vanuatu. “My hope is that UH Press will soon be able to adopt the new technologies employed by this program to issue more OA publications, especially in Hawaiian and Pacific studies,” said Cosseboom.

The next SHMP title will be Alec Holcombe’s Mass Mobilization in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1945–1960.