Special Events-Archive

Talk Story with UH Hilo Professor of Anthropology Peter Mills
Date: Thursday, March 7, 2024
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Place: UH Hilo campus (free parking) - Kilohana Tutoring Center in the Mookini Library, 1^st floor (Lower Level)
Topic: Connecting the Kingdom: Sailing Vessels in the Hawaiian Monarchy

In this groundbreaking work, Peter Mills reveals a wealth of insight into the emergence of the Hawaiian nation-state from sources mostly ignored by colonial and post-colonial historians alike. By examining how early Hawaiian chiefs appropriated Western sailing technology to help build their island nation, Mills presents the fascinating history of sixty Hawaiian-owned schooners, brigs, barks, and peleleu canoes. While these vessels have often been dismissed as examples of chiefly folly, Mills highlights their significance in Hawaiʻi’s rapidly evolving monarchy, and aptly demonstrates how the monarchy’s own nineteenth-century sailing fleet facilitated fundamental transformations of interisland tributary systems, alliance building, exchange systems, and emergent forms of Indigenous capitalism.

In 1865 the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi passed “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” that led to the establishment of the settlement for leprosy patients on the Kalaupapa peninsula (Molokai) and authorized the separation of individuals from their families and communities until the isolation law finally came to an end in 1969. Despite their separation from the rest of the lāhui (nation), those who were exiled to the Kalaupapa peninsula remained steadfast in their efforts to stay connected to their loved ones and the lāhui, and to educate the public about the circumstances of the settlement and how they as patients, and as people, were being treated and cared for (or not). Through letters they wrote to the Board of Health, letters and editorials to the Hawaiian language newspapers, and in the twentieth century oral history interviews and published memoirs, the patients’ voices provide us with a unique perspective on the experience of living with leprosy in 19^th and 20^th century Hawaiʻi. But perhaps more importantly, their voices offer insight into their connections to place, their identity as members of their community and lāhui, and their agency as advocates, activists, and educators. This presentation will highlight the writings of patients, privileging their voices, in the telling of their stories.

Kerri A. Inglis has been teaching Hawaiʻi and Pacific Islands History at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo since 2005. She resides in Kaloli, Keaʻau, in the moku of Puna, but was born and raised in the Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada. Inglis moved to the islands and earned a BA in History from BYU-Hawaiʻi (1993), completed her MA in the History of Medicine at the University of Toronto (1995), and returned to Hawaiʻi to pursue a doctorate in Hawaiian history – with complimentary fields in Pacific and World history – at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2004).

Inglis’ research specialization is in the history of Hansen’s disease/leprosy, publishing her first book Ma‘i Lepera: Disease and Displacement in 19^th century Hawaiʻi with UH Press in 2013. She has presented her work locally and internationally, and has published in several journals – most articles dealing with Hansen’s disease (including examinations of criminalization and stigma), epidemics, medical treatments, and community, with a focus on Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.

Inglis has guided students in several research projects, from a CESU Task Agreement project with Hawaiʻi Volcanoes (2010-2013) & Kalaupapa National Historical Park (2011-2015) which involved research of archival materials, translation work, and records management – to a transcription and translation project with the Damien Museum in Leuven, Belgium (2019-present).

Above all else, Inglis enjoys teaching and emphasizes place-based, applied, and service-learning opportunities with her students.

Tokyo Tranquility and One Writer's “Pursuit” of Happiness Join us for a Talk Story session focused on Mark’s current in-progress work exploring an unlikely path to happily ever after, a path that begins in...Narita Airport (?) and leads through...a Japanese sumo stable run by Hawaiians, to...a Japanese country music bar where the band sounds like Willie Nelson's, to...a Japanese university rooted in the study of Humanities - a path that ultimately reaches its happy ending on...any given Monday night...in an old abandoned-looking warehouse next to...the downtown Panda Express...at the weekly Kukuau Studio Jazz Jam...right here in Hilo.

Susan Wackerbarth grew up in Seattle, and came to live on Hawaiʻi Island by way of South Africa and Southeast Alaska. She has an MA in English from the University of Washington and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

Wackerbarth is a long-time Hilo resident, UH Hilo English instructor, and choral performer (Kanilehua Chorale, Aloha Express, Harmony on Tap, Hilo Community Chorus, Big Island Singers).

In 2019 she won a UH Hilo College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Achievement Award, and in 2022, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition to teaching and singing, she is Coordinator for the UH Hilo English Department’s Creative Writing Certificate (which she created in 2016) and an active member of two writers’ groups (in Seattle and Hilo).

She lives in Waiākea Uka with her husband and many animals. Her novel No Place Like Home was published in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. She is currently writing a new novel.

Talk Story with UH Hilo Instructor of English and Creative Writing Coordinator Susan Wackerbarth about her novel, No Place Like Home.

Date: Wednesday, October 25
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Place: UH Hilo campus (free parking)

• Kilohana Tutoring Center in the Mookini Library, 1^st floor (Lower Level)

UH Hilo Stories: English instructor Susan Wackerbarth Publishes First Novel, Inspires Students

Last of the Summer Reads: “Debut author Susan Wackerbarth knows the Palace Theater from both the front and back of the house. Her deft characterizations of the theater and the people who love it are based in reality. No Place Like Home is a fun read.”

Talk Story with UH Hilo Assistant Professor of English Patsy Iwasaki about her graphic novel, Hāmākua Hero: A True Plantation Story.

Date: Tuesday, September 19
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Place: UH Hilo campus (free parking)

• Kilohana Tutoring Center in the Mookini Library, 1^st floor (Lower Level)

Patsy Y. Iwasaki, Ph.D. received a research grant from the Goto of Hiroshima Foundation which later inspired her to collaborate with artist Berido to create the graphic novel Hāmākua Hero: A True Plantation Story about Katsu Goto, a 19th century labor advocate and key figure in the Japan-Hawaiʻi immigration, labor and social evolution narrative. In addition to conducting research and developing educational projects about Goto, she is currently creating and producing a documentary film about him.

Dr. Iwasaki is an assistant professor of English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. She received her Ph.D. in Learning Design and Technology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and also has an M.Ed. in education. Her research interests and teaching practices include instructional design and development, English studies, media writing, migration narratives in graphic novels, documentary film, diversity, place and community-based, culturally relevant resources in education, and cross-cultural exchange and collaboration.

She has conducted extensive research activities, published articles, and given presentations in the United States, Asia, and Europe in these areas. Her teaching and research awards include the UH Hilo Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi Award for Excellence and Innovation. She is active in the community, serving on the boards for several organizations dedicated to diversity, education, and youth.

She balances her work, projects, and family with snacking on dark chocolate and watching The Mandalorian.