UH Hilo English prof Patsy Iwasaki presents her research at international conference in Rome
Assistant Professor Iwasaki’s work focuses on the efficacy of using graphic novels as a place-based educational resource, citing findings of her own publication, Hāmākua Hero.
By Susan Enright.
Patsy Iwasaki, assistant professor of English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, presented her research on the use of her graphic novel for cultural education at the highly respected and internationally recognized 2024 International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities held this summer at Sapienza University in Rome.
In Iwasaki’s presentation of her study, “Utilizing a Graphic Novel, Instructional Design and Community of Practice: A Framework for a Cultural, Place-based Educational Resource,” she uses her own graphic novel, Hāmākua Hero: A True Plantation Story, as an example of “how an original graphic novel about a 19th century labor advocate was utilized to inform, give insight and promulgate heritage, culture and resilience.”
- Patsy Iwasaki’s graphic novel sheds light on immigrant experience (UH Hilo Stories, May 10, 2021)
Hāmākua Hero, authored by Iwasaki and illustrated by UH Hilo art alumnus Avery Berido, is the true story about a Japanese immigrant laborer on Hawaiʻi Island, Katsu Goto, who was murdered in 1889 for advocating for Japanese plantation laborers.
Goto’s body was found hanging from a telephone pole in the plantation town of Honokaʻa. Four men were prosecuted and jailed: two escaped, one was pardoned, and one served four years.
Iwasaki quotes the late Hilo-based Asian American scholar Gary Okihiro when describing the graphic novel’s accounting of the atrocity. “This story deals with a lynching, an absolute horrific, very public form of terror. A lynching is not private, it’s not only an act against the victim, but it’s a message to others, it’s meant to instill fear in others.”
The graphic novel art form of Hāmākua Hero successfully conveys and tackles these sometimes ugly parts of humanity, Iwasaki says.
In fact,the graphic novel is so successful in its engaging illustrated narrative, one that tells of a brutal historical event steeped in heritage and culture, that teachers from intermediate, secondary, and college educational levels, who participated in Iwasaki’s study, used and are using it in their curriculum with copies provided by a grant from the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.
“After analysis and interpretation were completed, the results significantly confirmed that the instructional resource and the community of educators had a positive educational impact upon students,” says Iwasaki in the abstract of her Rome presentation.
“This study contributed to sustaining the heritage, culture and resilience of the region and beyond,” she states. “It has significant potential to influence the broad possibilities of the innovative, interdisciplinary transfer and translation of ideas, research and collaboration in humanities education.”
Instructional resource
In her Rome presentation, Iwasaki shared her successes with Hāmākua Hero.
In fall 2022, in collaboration with Honokaʻa Hongwanji Mission, the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, through the Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP), awarded a $15,000 grant that placed over 750 copies of Iwasaki’s graphic novel on the life and fate of Katsu Goto with 40 East Hawaiʻi island teachers to utilize in their curriculum. The grant also funded 55 copies to all public libraries in the state of Hawaiʻi.
The teachers formed a community of practice of educators from intermediate, secondary and college levels in the UH institutional review board-approved study. A significant output of the study was a Hāmākua Hero curriculum website with information, lesson plans, and resources from the educators who gave permission.
“According to the Hawaiʻi Island teachers who used Hāmākua Hero, the graphic novel is a relevant, significant and impactful resource to help understand Hawaiʻi’s diverse history, culture, encourage equity and civic engagement, and academic success,” says Iwasaki. “Teachers said it created important connections and a sense of place, pride, and healing, and contributes to sustaining Hawaiʻi’s heritage and culture.”
Teachers said it especially helps students understand and practice resilience.
One instructor of high school alternative learning students said his students were significantly impacted by this true story. “They totally relate to his life; how he left his family and home, his difficulties, and the lynching,” says the instructor. “They are impressed by how Goto was able to cope with his life, recover and that he continued to do good and do right no matter the obstacles.”
About the work and research she presented in Rome, Iwasaki says she is continuing her exploration of the merging of arts, humanities, and learning sciences with a focus on place- and community-based educational resources. “I’m hoping to publish this in the future as a series of journal articles or a book,” she says.
Below, Iwasaki talks about her graphic novel, Hāmākua Hero, at a community forum held at UH Hilo:
Accolades
In 2022, Hāmākua Hero was listed on the Top Essential books of Hawaiʻi list by Honolulu magazine, “a great honor,” says Iwasaki, for the graphic novel to be on this list under the category “Immigrant Experience” with a criteria of impact, influence, and readability.
In 2023, Iwasaki was instrumental in Mayor Mitch Roth proclaiming the week of Sept. 18-23 as Katsu Goto Legacy Week.
- Katsu Goto Legacy Week honors memory of Hāmākua Hero (UH Hilo Stories, Sept. 26, 2023)
In 2024, for the positive impact of her work on the community, Iwasaki received the UH Hilo Pūlama ʻIke Award, presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to developing and promoting the mission and spirit of UH Hilo. “Receiving the 2024 Biennial Pūlama ʻIke Award for connecting research to communities and promoting the mission and spirit of UH Hilo was such an honor,” she says.
Conference coming to UH Hilo in 2025
After attending and presenting her research at the “New Directions in the Humanities” conference a few years ago, upon the recommendation of UH Hilo colleagues Professor of English Kirsten Møllegaard, and Professor of Language Faith Mishina, Iwasaki became acquainted with a few leaders in the organization.
“They had never held a conference in Hawaiʻi and were very interested in our campus, and I was enthusiastic about sharing our lovely campus and community,” says Iwasaki. The result of this networking makes Iwasaki proud: “After conferences at the Sorbonne University in Paris with 55,000 enrollment in 2023 and Sapienza University in Rome with 104,000 enrollment in 2024, the 23rd International Conference is coming to UH Hilo in 2025.”
“The conference attracts diverse faculty from all over the world and I have met and now collaborated with professors in Japan, Spain, Portugal, and others, with teaching and digital humanities projects,” Iwasaki adds.
The Hilo conference theme is “Oceanic Journeys: Multicultural Approaches in the Humanities.”
Plenary speakers are UH Hilo Professor of Education Clint Anderson, Emerita Professor of Performing Arts Jackie Pualani Johnson, and Professor of Physics and Astronomy Marianne Takamiya. Steering committee members are also from UH Hilo.
“I hope that we’ll have a strong presence of participants, presenters, and emerging scholars and that we’ll be able to showcase our amazing university,” says Iwasaki.
“Regarding the Emerging Scholars program, it’s a very special honor and the registration fees for undergraduates and graduate students are waived and we’d like to encourage our UH Hilo students to apply for this,” says Iwasaki.
“Regarding the Emerging Scholars program, it’s a very special honor to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students and early-career scholars,” says Iwasaki. “The award offers complimentary registration and network membership. This provides professional development opportunities to make connections and create networks.”
“We’d like to encourage our UH Hilo students, as well as our UH system students, to apply for this,” she adds.
For UH Hilo and other UH System faculty, staff, and students interested in attending, presenting, or helping with the New Directions conference at UH Hilo June 25-27, 2025, contact Patsy Iwasaki.
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Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
