News and Events

Pacific Science, vol. 68, no. 1 (2014)

PS 68-1 coverSoils and Paleosoils of the Galápagos Islands: What We Know and What We Don’t Know, A Meta-Analysis
Georges Stoops, 1

Abstract: Accessible information on Galápagos soils is very limited. Much of the existing, although still scarce, information is several decades old and not easily retrieved. The aim of this paper is to present a critical synthesis. Continue reading “Pacific Science, vol. 68, no. 1 (2014)”

Celebrating the Enduring Legacies of Queen Lili‘uokalani

Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's QueenOn Sunday, January 26, at 3:30 p.m., UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library will host “He Lei, He Aloha: This is a Lei of Love, The Legacies of Queen Lili‘uokalani,” a free program that celebrates the enduring legacies of Queen Lili‘uokalani, the last reigning monarch of the kingdom of Hawai‘i. The participatory program, which is presented by the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System, will be narrated by Meleanna Aluli Meyer, artist, educator, filmmaker, and descendant of Emma Nawahi, confidante of the Queen.

Part of the 45-minute program will feature readings from Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, a new edition of which has just been published by Hui Hānai, an auxiliary organization to the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center. UH Press is honored to be distributing this enhanced and annotated edition and will have copies available for purchase at the event.

For more information, click here.

The Hermit’s Hut: Architecture and Asceticism in India

Ashraf-Hermit'sHutAlthough architecture continually responds to ascetic compulsions, as in its frequent encounter with the question of excess and less, it is typically considered separate from asceticism. In contrast, The Hermit’s Hut offers original insight and explores the rich and mutual ways in which asceticism and architecture are played out in each other’s practices. Relying primarily on Buddhist materials, author Kazi K. Ashraf provides a complex narrative that stems from the simple structure of the hermit’s hut, showing how the significance of the hut resonates widely and how the question of dwelling is central to ascetic imagination. In exploring the conjunctions of architecture and asceticism, he breaks new ground by presenting ascetic practice as fundamentally an architectural project, namely the fabrication of a “last” hut.

This innovative book weaves together the fields of architecture, anthropology, religion, and philosophy to offer multidisciplinary and historical insights. It will appeal to readers with diverse interests and in a variety of disciplines—whether one is interested in the history of ascetic architecture in India, the concept of “home” in ancient India, or the theme of the body as building.

November 2013 | 240 pages | 105 illustrations
ISBN: 978-0-8248-3583-5 | $50.00 | Cloth

Spatial Habitus: Making and Meaning in Asia’s Architecture

The Making of the First Korean President

Lew-Making1stKoreanPresThe only full-scale history of Syngman Rhee’s early career in English was published nearly six decades ago. Now, Young Ick Lew uncovers little-known aspects of Rhee’s leadership roles prior to 1948, when he became the Republic of Korea’s first president. In The Making of the First Korean President: Syngman Rhee’s Quest for Independence, 1875–1948, Lew delves into Rhee’s background, investigates his abortive diplomatic missions, and explains how and why he was impeached as the head of the Korean Provisional Government in 1925. He analyzes the numerous personal conflicts between Rhee and other prominent Korean leaders, including some close friends and supporters who eventually denounced him as an autocrat.

Based on exhaustive research that incorporates archival records as well as secondary sources in Korean, English, and Japanese, The Making of the First Korean President meticulously lays out the key developments of Rhee’s pre-presidential career. This richly illustrated volume is essential reading for anyone with an interest in modern Korean history and will serve as a lasting portrait of one of the pivotal figures in the evolution of Korea as it journeyed from colonial suppression to freedom and security.

November 2013 | ISBN: 978-0-8248-3168-4 | $68.00 | Cloth

Julie Nelson Davis Foresees Rich Collection of Japanese Art Books As Researchers’ Treasure

31680_12092013_libraryjapaneseartscollectionconnie010f
photo by Connie Kang for The Daily Pennsylvanian

Associate professor of art history Julie Nelson Davis was interviewed by The Daily Pennsylvanian about the recent donation of 1,300 books and periodicals on Japanese art to University of Pennsylvania libraries. Davis, author of Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty, called the endowment by Shirley and Marilyn Luber (wife and daughter of the late Philadelphia art collector Gilbert Luber) “one of the broadest and deepest private collections of books about Japanese prints I have ever encountered.” She hopes her students will be able to use the collection in her curatorial seminar this spring.

Professor Davis’ forthcoming Partners in Print: Artistic Collaboration and the Market for Ukiyo-e in Late Eighteenth-Century Japan is scheduled for spring 2015. Illustrated with more than a hundred color and black-and-white photographs, Davis’ account of collaboration in ukiyo-e will offer a new approach to understanding the production and reception of the images of the “floating world” in early modern Japan.

New Catalogs Available: Spring 2014 New Books and 2014 Hawai‘i & the Pacific

2014Spr-HP-covers

Happy New Year! To kick off 2014, two new catalogs are now available for download as PDFs: our Spring 2014 catalog of new and forthcoming titles and our 2014 Hawai‘i and the Pacific complete list of new and in-print backlist books. Both include dozens of the latest titles from UH Press and the publishers we distribute. Click on the image above or go to: http://uhpress.wordpress.com/latest-catalogs/

UH Press at American Historical Association Annual Meeting, January 2-5, Washington, D.C.

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University of Hawai‘i Press
is exhibiting at the American Historical Association’s Annual Meeting, January 2-5 in Washington, D.C.

Press acquisitions editor Masako Ikeda is attending. Please visit our booth to browse our newest titles and take advantage of the event special: a 20% discount and free shipping in the U.S. The free shipping applies to orders received or placed at the conference.

Ancient Ryukyu: An Archaeological Study of Island Communities

Ancient Ryukyu explores 30,000 years of human occupation in the Ryukyu Islands, from the earliest human presence in the region up to A.D. 1609 and the emergence of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It focuses on the unique geopolitical position of the islands, their environment, and the many human communities whose historical activities can be discerned. Drawing on the impressive work of dozens of local archaeologists who have brought the islands’ early history to life, Richard Pearson describes explorers and sojourners and colonists who arrived thousands of years ago, and their ancient trade links to Japan, Korea, and China.

Through analysis of work completed at about 120 sites described in dozens of rare Japanese government reports with limited circulation, Pearson is able to show that many modern features of the culture, politics, and economy of the Ryukyu Islands have very deep roots.

“This extremely important study in Pacific and island archaeology makes use of the huge database generated by Okinawan archaeology in the postwar era and places the Okinawan islands in the context of current theoretical debates within island archaeology in the Pacific and beyond. It is also a major study of premodern Okinawa. With its many valuable overviews and discussions, as well as its original analyses and interpretations, it will undoubtedly become the definitive text in English.” —Mark Hudson, Nishikyushu University

November 2013 | 432 pages | 36 illustrations | 20 maps
ISBN: 978-0-8248-3712-9 | $55.00 | Cloth

Winter 2013 Holiday Schedule

Sunset sky seen from the Press
Sunset sky seen from the Press

University of Hawai‘i Press will be closed from Tuesday, December 24, 2013 through Wednesday, January 1, 2014. Our website never sleeps, however, and orders received during this period will be processed and shipped after January 2.

Mahalo for your support and best wishes for the holidays!

After the New Order: Space, Politics, and Jakarta

After the New Order: Space, Politics, and JakartaThis new work explores the formation of populist urban programs in post-Suharto Jakarta and the cultural and political contradictions that have arisen as a result of the continuing influence of the Suharto-era’s neoliberal ideology of development. Analyzing a spectrum of urban agendas from waterfront city to green environment and housing for the poor, Kusno deepens our understanding of the spatial mediation of power, the interaction between elite and populist urban imaginings, and how past ideologies are integral to the present even as they are newly reconfigured.

After the New Order will be essential reading for anyone—including Asianists, urban historians, social scientists, architects, and planners—concerned with the interplay of space, power, and identity.

November 2013 | 304 pages | 33 illustrations
ISBN: 978-0-8248-3745-7 | $60.00s | Cloth

Writing Past Colonialism

Asian Perspectives, vol. 51, no. 1 (2012)

ARTICLES

Na Koronivalu ni Bā: Upland Settlement during the Last Millennium in the Bā River Valley and Vatia Peninsula, Northern Viti Levu Island, Fiji
Patrick D. Nunn, 1

Former settlements, now abandoned, are found in inland upland locations on many larger islands in the tropical Pacific. In Fiji, such settlements are known today as koronivalu (war-towns) and, as elsewhere in the region, appear to have been established within the same period during the first half of the last millennium. Twenty-seven koronivalu were mapped for this research in the Bā Valley and nearby Vatia Peninsula, northern Viti Levu Island (Fiji); of these, nine were subject to detailed investigation. All koronivalu are in defensible locations, either with exceptional views across the surrounding landscape or hidden within deep narrow valleys. At all koronivalu, evidence for the consumption of marine shellfish was found, even though the sites are often far from the coast. Twenty- four radiocarbon ages from charcoal and shellfish remains were obtained. A single age around A.D. 700 from the farthest inland site (Koroikewa) appears anomalous. The remainder, once adjusted, suggest that most koronivalu in the study area were established A.D. 1200–1750, perhaps separable into early (A.D. 1200–1450) and later (A.D. 1500–1750) phases. While questions remain about the functions of these koronivalu, the fact that, as elsewhere in Fiji and in other western Pacific Island groups, they appear to have been established within the same period suggests that there is a region-wide explanation for the profound settlement-pattern change this implies. Climate change, perhaps expressed through drought and/or sea-level change, appears the only plausible external forcing mechanism.
Keywords: Pacific Islands, Fiji, hill forts, settlement pattern, marine subsistence, climate change.
Continue reading “Asian Perspectives, vol. 51, no. 1 (2012)”

Language Documentation & Conservation, vol. 7 (2013)

Contributions to LD&C are now published upon acceptance. Below are all the contributions accepted for volume 7 (January–December 2013).

Articles

The Sociolinguistic Situation of the Manila Bay Chabacano-Speaking Communities
Marivic Lesho and Eeva Sippola, pp. 1–30

This study is an assessment of the vitality of the Manila Bay Chabacano varieties spoken in Cavite City and Ternate, Philippines. These Spanish-lexified creoles have often been described as endangered, but until now there has been no systematic description of how stable the varieties are. The evaluation of the vitality of Manila Bay Chabacano is made based on participant observation and interviews conducted in both communities over the past nine years, using the UNESCO (2003) framework. Comparison between the two varieties shows that the proportional size of the speech community, degree of urbanization, and proximity to Manila account for differences in the vitality of the creoles. In rural Ternate, Chabacano is more stable in terms of intergenerational transmission and the proportion of speakers to the overall community. In the more urban Cavite City, most speakers are of the grandparental generation, but the community is more organized in its language preservation efforts. This study sheds light on two creole varieties in need of further documentation and sociolinguistic description, as well as the status of minority languages in the Philippines. It also offers a critical assessment of a practically-oriented methodological framework and demonstrates its application in the field.
Continue reading “Language Documentation & Conservation, vol. 7 (2013)”