Digital Commons Network^™

Oh, Those Poor Islanders And Threats To An Idyllic Life On A Beautiful Island!, Juliana Flinn

Pacific Studies

This essay examines the representation of Pollap, a Micronesian atoll, in popular media and internet sources, highlighting the contrast between anthropological perspectives and public portrayals. While scholars emphasize indigenous agency and the adaptive use of external influences, popular media—ranging from Peace Corps blogs to disaster reports—often depict islanders through romanticized or victimized lenses. These portrayals reflect more about Western cultural fantasies and assumptions than about the lived realities of Pollapese people. Romantic narratives emphasize idyllic simplicity and harmony with nature, while disaster coverage frames islanders as helpless and dependent on external aid. Notably absent are accounts of local responses or …

Vol. 38 No. 1/2 (2015): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

From Romance To Reality: An Epilogue, Niko Besnier

Pacific Studies

This epilogue reflects on the political nature of representation, particularly in the context of the Pacific Islands, where images and narratives have long been shaped by colonial encounters and global media. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples—from Enlightenment-era voyages to modern climate change discourse—the essay highlights how Pacific Islanders have both been subjects of external representations and active participants in shaping their own identities.

Vol. 38 No. 1/2 (2015): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 38, No 1/2-Aug 2015 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Reclaiming Paradise: Cinema And Hawaiian Nationhood, Judith Schachter

Pacific Studies

This essay explores the enduring power of the “paradise” trope in cinematic portrayals of Hawai‘i and its evolving role in articulating Native Hawaiian nationhood. While Western media has long romanticized Hawai‘i through idyllic imagery of natural beauty and sensuality, contemporary indigenous filmmakers have begun to reclaim and repurpose these visual conventions. Rather than marking a shift from fantasy to realism, these films strategically reframe romantic imagery to assert cultural autonomy, political sovereignty, and a renewed relationship to the land (‘āina). Through analysis of both outsider and insider productions, the essay reveals how visual narratives critique colonial histories and resist hegemonic …

From Colonial Pomp To Tourism Reality: Commodification And Cannibalization Of The Fijian Firewalking Ceremony, Guido Carlo Pigliasco

Pacific Studies

In 1935 the rite [firewalking] was performed before two members of the British Medical Association. The eminent doctors examined the men carefully before and after the ceremony. . . . The men of Mbengga [sic], not knowing of these learned disputations, unconcernedly carry on the strange custom of their ancestors (Luis Marden, National Geographic, October 1958: 560–61).

The Fijians had another way of disposing of the bodies. They ate them. . . . This was a culture devoted to killing, and when there wasn’t an enemy around to meet their needs, chiefs took to killing the commoners among them …

The Nature Of Food: Indigenous Dene Foodways And Ontologies In The Era Of Climate Change, David S. Walsh

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Climate change leading to a drastic decline in caribou populations has prompted strict hunting regulations in Canada’s Northwest Territories since 2010. The Dene, a subarctic indigenous people, have responded by turning to tradition and calling for more respectful hunting to demonstrate respectful reciprocity to the caribou, including a community-driven foodways project on caribou conservation and Dene caribou conservation which I co-facilitated in 2011. In these ways the caribou is approached as a person. Dene responses to caribou decline can best be understood by ontological theories of an expanded notion of indigenous personhood. However, I argue these theories are inadequate without …

"It Didn't Seem Like Race Mattered": Exploring The Implications Of Service-Learning Pedagogy For Reproducing Or Challenging Color-Blind Racism, Sarah Anna Becker, Crystal Paul

Faculty Publications

Prior research measuring service-learning program successes reveals the approach can positively affect students' attitudes toward community service, can increase students' motivation to learn and ability to internalize class material, and can change their view of social issues. Studies also suggest that college students sometimes enter and leave a field site in ways that contribute to the reproduction of inequality. In this paper, we draw on three years of data from a service-learning project that involves sending college-age students (most of whom are white and materially privileged) into local, predominantly black, high-poverty neighborhoods to participate in …

Immigrant Cosmopolitanism: Jewish-American Immigrant Narratives And Modernist Cosmopolitan Aesthetics, Mindy Renee Trenary

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I propose to show in this study how Jewish-American authors of mass media immigrant works from the first three decades of the 20th century utilize a form of modernist cosmopolitan aesthetics to challenge notions that these works are unworthy of study and appreciation. These authors, not happy with the classifications and aesthetics available to them as immigrant authors, borrow from other ideologies and aesthetic schools to create an aesthetic system meeting the needs of immigrant individuals. In theory, this system, which I have termed 'immigrant cosmopolitanism,' meets the needs of these individuals and capitalizes on the authors' diverse backgrounds and …

A Light In Darkness, Oscar Micheaux: Entrepreneur Intellectual Agitator, Airic Hughes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oscar Micheaux was a luminary who served as an agent of racial uplift, with a unique message to share with the world on behalf of the culturally marginalized African Americans. He produced projects that conveyed the complexity of the true black experience with passion and creative courage. His films empowered black audiences and challenged conventional stereotypes of black culture and potential. The legacy of Oscar Micheaux is historically unparalleled among his contemporaries. He transcended traditionally held perspectives about what black people could accomplish. The consciousness within his work still heavily influences black entertainment today. This study seeks to add to …

The Spectacle Of Orphanhood: Reimagining Orphans In Postbellum Fiction, Afrin Zeenat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orphan iconography has always been deployed in American literature and culture, but nineteenth-century American literature, fiction in particular, abounds in orphans, both real and imaginary. The orphan’s amphibious nature is hailed and demonized as the epitome of individualism and unbridled freedom, and also as the location of society’s anxiety. This complicated and conflicted construction of orphans animates the Social and cultural realm in postbellum America, foregrounding issues of class, race, and gender.

Talking Back, With Reawakened Voices: Analyzing The Potential For Indigenous California Languages Coursework At California Polytechnic State University, Logan Cooper

Ethnic Studies

The legacy of colonialism in the United States, including genocidal practices and cultural assimilation, has left Indigenous languages endangered. Native peoples, scholars, and activists have been working to revive and heal the languages of America’s first peoples, and the cultures those languages speak to, yet more work remains in the field of language revitalization. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo currently does not offer any course specifically teaching or discussing Indigenous languages, even those of the Chumash people who know the San Luis Obispo area as their ancestral homelands.

By synthesizing revitalization and Indigenous activist literature with the narratives …

Native Interactions And Economic Exchange: A Re-Evaluation Of Plymouth Colony Collections, Kellie J. Bowers

Graduate Masters Theses

This research furthers our understanding of colonial-Native relations by identifying and analyzing artifacts that indicate interaction between Native Americans and English settlers in Plymouth Colony archaeological collections. This project explores the nature of these interactions, exposing material culture's role in both social and economic exchanges. Selected 17th-century collections were excavated in modern Plymouth, Massachusetts, and nearby Marshfield and Kingston. My examination includes identifying materials exchanged between the Wampanoag and English settler groups in archaeological collections through scholarly literature and comparative 17th-century sites. This project draws on the documentary resources to provide contextualized insights on the relationships formed by and around …

Literature Of The First Encounters: Using Self-Immersion In The Scholarly Study Of First Encounter Texts To Develop A Fifth Grade Text Set, Angela Skrabec

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This interdisciplinary research project integrated training and techniques from two disciplines: English and Elementary Education. The purpose of the project was to immerse myself in the scholarly study of First Encounter (encounter between the natives and English settlers in the New World) texts in order to create a fifth grade text set, a selection of approximately 20-25 quality children’s books that represent a diverse range of reading levels and genres. My research entailed reading a variety of First Encounter literatures and using New Historicism to analyze each as part of my English scholarship. In addition, after reviewing research on literacy …

Indigenous Land Rights Of The Khoi In South Africa, Chelsea Wilkins

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Upon discussions in classes at James Madison University, I became aware of the Khoi people. I became interested in their way of life, as well as the implications of globalization and industrialization worldwide. After researching the topic, I decided I wanted to not only write my thesis on this topic, but I wanted to travel to South Africa to learn more. I wanted to know how a refreshment station at the Cape for the Dutch East India Company transformed into a fight for land that ultimately led to the extreme disenfranchisement of the Khoi people and their way of life. …

Blood From Blood And Earth From Earth: Examining Cultural Identity In Second And Third Generation Hispanic Americans, Caroline E. Culbreth

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To what extent does a Mexican American identify with Mexico? With the U.S.? How are these identities formed? Through a series of semi-structured interviews with second- and third-generation descendants of migrants emigrating from seven Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, I explore what it means to be Hispanic American. I begin by examining the informants’ perceptions of boundaries between the broad Hispanic and American ethnic groups and their self-defined positions relative to those boundaries. Having established this position, I then analyze the impact of external conceptions of authenticity and access to “ethnic raw materials” in their construction of this ethnic identity. Findings …

Shifting Identity/Shifting Discourse: Re‐Naming In Contemporary Literature By Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Eugenides, And Salman Rushdie, Jennifer Krengel

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Re­‐naming one’s self is an empowering act of self­‐definition; re­‐naming others is an attempt to codify, contain and censure identity. Re­‐naming emerges as a compelling theme in contemporary transnational literature, appearing in three notable texts: Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000), Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex (2002) and Salman Rushdie's memoir Joseph Anton (2012). These texts depict stories of diaspora, the forced migration or dispersal away from a homeland. Communities of diaspora negotiate between two cultures: an originary culture and the culture of the new geographic location. From these negotiations emerge a third, hybridized identity that reimagines the majority culture and challenges structural …

A Wind From Below: The Zapatista Movement And Its Assertion Of Pluri-Ethnic Mexican Citizenship, Noah Jacob Huyette

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Constructing National Memory: The Problematics Of Resistance & Remembrance In The Wpa Slave Narrative Collections, Nathan A. Moore

Library Student Employees' Research

No abstract provided.

What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction To His Life And Thought, Lewis R. Gordon, Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun, Drucilla Cornell

Philosophy & Theory

Challenging the notion of theory as white and experience as black, Lewis Gordon here offers a philosophical portrait of the thought and life of the Martinican-turned-Algerian revolutionary psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon as an example of “living thought” against the legacies of colonialism and racism, and thereby shows the continued relevance and importance of his ideas.

Race, Culture And Agency: Examining The Ideologies And Practices Of Us Teachers Of Black Male Students, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines teachers of Black male students in a United States secondary school setting. Qualitative methods were used to document teachers' ideologies of and practices with their Black male students. In general, teachers drew upon competing structural and cultural explanations of Black male social and academic outcomes, while also engaging in practices that contested school barriers for Black males. Teacher beliefs about and practices with their Black male students were inconsistent in many ways, yet their agency on behalf of Black males might be understood as essential to Black male educational progress.

“Ab-Soul’S Outro,” “Hiiipower,” And The Vernacular: Kendrick Lamar’S Rap As Literature, Tyler S. Bunzey

Senior Honors Theses

Kendrick Lamar’s “Ab-Soul’s Outro” and “HiiiPower” employ complex patterns of Signifyin(g), testifyin’, and other classical African-American literary tropes in order to construct a nuanced style. Lamar creates a double-voiced text not only within his narrative, but also within the form itself. Lamar plays on rap's unique status in African-American literature as an oral text; it is an extension of the vernacular. Through this oral text, Lamar decentralizes the Eurocentric focus of classical interpretation and qualification of literature to a new Afrocentric perspective that privileges the oral text. These raps are complex, wrapped up in their current context along with a …

Cultural Readings Of Ojibwe Novelists, Jordan A. Horvath

Open Access Theses

This thesis examines the work of three Ojibwe novelists through the cultural lens of primarily Ojibwe literary and cultural critics. Novels by Louise Erdrich, Gerald Vizenor, and David Treuer are analyzed with the intent of highlighting aspects of the work in which a heightened understanding of Ojibwe cultural and literary practices, both historical and contemporary, may elevate a reader's engagement with the texts. In the analyzing of these texts, precedence is given to the work of Ojibwe critics such as Vizenor and Anton Treuer. This prioritization of Ojibwe literary theory and cultural knowledge will demonstrate that readers, particularly non-Ojibwe readers, …

Language As The Foundation Of Identity Among Sherpa Youth In Nepal, Joshua H. Ginder

Student Publications

This paper explores how young Sherpas in Nepal use their language as a tool for identifying themselves as uniquely Sherpa in a mutlicultural Nepal. By analyzing the way Sherpas use their language in social settings and at a radio station, the author suggests the Sherpa language is perhaps the only truly unique quality that delineates Sherpas from other Nepalis.

Is Service-Learning The Answer? Preparing Teacher Candidates To Work With Ells Through Service-Learning Experiences, Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo

Scholarship of Metropolitan Mission

In an effort to address the gaps in preparing teacher candidates (TCs) to work with English Language Learners (ELLs), service-learning experiences (SLE) were integrated into two courses within a teacher education program. This exploratory case study sought to explore the outcomes of teacher candidates (TCs) engaged in SLE with diverse students and families, particularly ELLs. Content analysis of students’ reflections provided insights of the impact of the SLE. Findings indicate that participating in service-learning with ELLs provides opportunities for TCs to engage in positive interactions that help to address misconceptions about students, families, and communities. TCs also began to confront …

Transnational Education Systems In Morocco: How Language Of Instruction Shapes Identity, Sarah Robertson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The North African country of Morocco boasts a rich history of linguistic diversity, which was further compounded with the introduction of the French language under the protectorate in 1912. Through a complicated mix of Fus’ha (Modern Standard Arabic), Darija (Moroccan Dialectical Arabic), French (historically the language of the protectorate), and most recently, the introduction of English, the system of education with respect to linguistic instruction is left in a bind. The divide between the public schools, private schools, traditional Arabic schools, and well-­‐ established French schools only grows, as the Moroccan Education system hurts for change. If language shapes education, …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 90, No. 40, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Lawson, Anna. President Announces Executive Candidates – Student Government Association
• Rogers, Shelby. WKU Partners With Icelandic University – University of Akureyri
• Ponder, Abby. WKU Glasgow Opens Doors for Regional Students
• Crumbie, Trey. Garrett Conference Center Restaurant to Serve Alcohol – Dining Services, Topper Grill & Pub
• Voorhees, Jessica. Board of Regents Committees to Convene Friay
• Editorial Cartoon Racial Equality & Social Justice
• Swift & Direct: WKU Has No Room for Racism – Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Fraternities and Sororities
• French, Jackson. Insurgent Touts Individuality Despite Having None – Movie Review …

Indigenous Poetics In Canada Edited By Neal Mcleod, Kelly Shepherd

The Goose

Review of Neal McLeod's Indigenous Poetics in Canada.

The Transnational Rhetoric In Cabeza De Vaca’S La Relacion, Bincy Abdul Samad

Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies (2015-2021)

Abstract on La Relacion by Cabeza de Vaca

Identity is an important concept in postcolonial literature, especially when one’s identity is achieved rather than inherent. It is interesting to pursue how Cabeza de Vaca, the protagonist of La Relacion undergoes a transformation from his initial identity as a Spanish colonizer to a transnational hybrid, the Spanish-American. Despite multiple critics’ argument that La Relacion is “a discourse of failure” that “subverts the established order,” my paper rereads the narrative as a transnationally successful rhetoric by incorporating multiculturalism and hybridity. Thus Cabeza de Vaca becomes a hero if we accept his story …

Book Review: San Miguel, Chicana/O Struggles For Education: Activism In The Community, Maritza De La Trinidad

Mexican American Studies Faculty Publications

Guadalupe San Miguel’s Chicana/o Struggles for Education: Activism in the Community is the seventh book in the University of Houston Series in Mexican American Studies. The author provides a historical overview of the multiple strategies and methods that Mexican American activists, organizations, and like-minded individuals employed in order to obtain not only quality education but also culturally relevant and religious education for Mexican-origin students from the 1960s to 2010. San Miguel focuses on this period in order to show how Mexican American education evolved in the post–Civil Rights era and how different groups pushed for educational reforms to achieve their …