News
Faculty Spotlight: Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua
Congratulations to Associate Professor Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, who received the UH Mānoa Chancellor's Citation for Meritorious Teaching on April 30, 2013. Photo: Regent Jeffrey Acido, Professor Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, and Chancellor Tom Apple.
Read more at the UH Mānoa Awards page.
Student Spotlight: Seong Won Park
Congratulations to Dr. Seong Won Park for being accepted as a full-time research fellow at the Science & Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) in Korea. STEPI handles national policy on science and technology in Korea.
Presidential debate: Hawaii voters weigh in
Professor Colin Moore was recently interviewed by KHON2 regarding the first 2012 Presidential Debate between presidential candidates former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Visit KHON2 to read more and watch Professor Moore's interview.
Dissertation Defense
Reading Race: Postcolonial Nationalism in Korea
March 16th, 2012
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Saunders 624, The Friedman Room
Mary Lee
This dissertation focuses on the significance of race to South Korean postcolonial nationalism. Despite critical scholarly attention paid to nationalist narratives in contemporary South Korea, the centrality of race remains peripheral. This poverty of investigation is paradoxical given the centrality of myths of racial origin, purity and uniqueness to nationalist historiography, political movements and discourses of the everyday. More intriguing still are the ways in which the modern myth of Korean racial homogeneity oppresses foreign ‘others’, particularly following the advent of Korea’s state-sponsored globalization movement. This project addresses the near absence of critical work concerned with the development of modern racial consciousness in Korea.
My dissertation investigates different sites of transnational and trans-cultural encounter between Koreans and non-Koreans that generate racial anxiety in the form of civil unrest, policy conundrums and new social phenomena. The emergence of multicultural politics to manage the political controversies concerning the presence of migrant workers and brides; the changing socio-legal status of biracial peoples; and the racial aesthetics of Korea’s popular culture industry as embodied in the Hallyu (“Korea Wave”) phenomenon, feature as sites of examination. The case studies of this project operate upon the premise that how South Korea currently confronts the processes and demands of neoliberal globalization reflects a great deal about the centrality of race to post-colonial, national identity, as well as how it is currently under duress and transformation.
Prominent Peace Leaders Visit Hawai‘i
Events Planned on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i
An international panel of activists and scholars from the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space will travel to O'ahu and Kaua'i from February 18-21 to discuss the local, regional and global ramifications of the U.S. missile defense programs and expanding U.S. militarism in the Asia-Pacific
region. The talks will highlight the resistance against U.S. military bases in Hawai’i, Okinawa, Korea and the UK and the far-reaching implications of the militarization of space.
Several public events are planned:
1. Public Forum on O‘ahu:
“Along the Axis of Peace:
Global Resistance to U.S. Military Bases and Space-based Weapons”
February 18, 2012
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Art Auditorium, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
Free Admission
A free public forum will be held on Saturday, February 18 at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in
the Art Auditorium at 7:00 pm. Speakers will include:
• Lynda Williams is a physics educator at Santa Rosa Junior College in California and a board
member of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
• Jamie Oshiro is an activist with the local Hawai‘i Okinawa Alliance, a group that conducts
education and action in solidarity with anti-bases struggles in Okinawa as well as Hawai‘i.
• Dave Webb is the National Chair of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a former space
physicist for the UK Ministry of Defence and a recipient of the Pax Christi Award.
• Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in
Space, an Air Force veteran, and member of Maine Veterans for Peace.
• Kyle Kajihiro (Moderator) is an organizer with Hawai‘i Peace and Justice and DMZ-Hawai‘i /
Aloha ‘Aina.
- MORE -
Sponsors of the February 18 event include: University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Department of English,
Department of American Studies, and Department of Political Science, the Global Network Against
Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space <http://www.space4peace.org>, Hawai’i Peace and Justice, and
DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina <http://www.dmzhawaii.org/>
2. Mini-Conference on O‘ahu:
“Growing Our Resistance to U.S. Military Bases and Space-based Weapons”
February 20, 2012
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Honolulu Friends Meeting House
Space is limited
Registration is required. $10 covers lunch and materials.
To register contact: info@hawaiipeaceandjustice.org or call 808-988-6266
This day-long mini-confab will be an opportunity for local and international activists to engage in
more in-depth dialogue about peace and demilitarization issues and struggles. It is also a chance to
develop ideas for greater international collaboration.
3. Public Forum on Kaua‘i:
“Impacts of Missile Defense in the Pacific, Asia and the World”
“PMRF Missiles Destroy Environment, Democracy, Cultures”
February 21, 2012
6:30 pm
Kapa‘a Library
Free
For more information: 808-822-7646
may11nineteen71@gmail.com
Speakers will include: Bruce Gagnon, Dave Webb, Lynda Williams. (See biographical sketches
above). Koohan Paik will moderate. The Kaua‘i event is sponsored by the Kaua‘i Alliance for
Peace and Social Justice.
“From Vandenberg, California to Kwajalein Atoll, from Kaua’i to Jeju Island, from Okinawa to the UK, the
U.S. global network of military bases and space-based weapons systems seeks to attain ‘full-spectrum
dominance’ over the planet. But grassroots movements are resisting through dynamic local-global networks
of solidarity. We are happy to host leaders of this growing international movement and we look forward to
sharing their good work with the public,” said Kyle Kajihiro.
After Hawai‘i, the visiting Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space delegation will
proceed to Jeju Island, South Korea, where the annual conference of the network will take place amidst
intense protests against a proposed naval base.
- END -
ALONG THE AXIS OF PEACE:
From Vandenberg, California to Kwajalein Atoll, Kaua’i to Jeju, South Korea, Okinawa to the UK, the U.S. global network of
military bases and space-based weapons systems seeks to attain “full-spectrum dominance” over the planet. But grassroots
movements are resisting through dynamic local-global networks of solidarity.
An international panel of activists and scholars will discuss the local, regional and global ramifications of the U.S. missile
defense programs and expanding U.S. militarism in the Asia-Pacific region, resistance against U.S. military bases in Hawai’i,
Okinawa, Korea and the UK and the far-reaching implications of the militarization of space.
• Lynda Williams is a physics educator at Santa Rosa Junior College in California and a board member of the Global Network
Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
• Jamie Oshiro is an activist with the Hawai’i Okinawa Alliance, a group that conducts education and action in solidarity
with anti-bases struggles in Okinawa as well as Hawai’i.
• Dave Webb is the National Chair of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a former space physicist for the UK Ministry
of Defence and a recipient of the Pax Christi Award.
• Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, an Air Force Veteran,
and member of Veterans for Peace.
• Kyle Kajihiro (Moderator) is an organizer with Hawai’i Peace and Justice and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina.
Global Resistance to
U.S. Military Bases and
Space-based Weapons
February 18, 2012
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Art Auditorium
UH Manoa
FREE
Contact: 808-988-6266 • info@hawaiipeaceandjustice.org • www.dmzhawaii.org
Sponsors: University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Department of English, Department of American Studies, and Department of Political Science, the
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Hawai’i Peace and Justice, and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina.
_____________________SPEAKING ON
IMPACTS OF MISSILE DEFENSE IN THE PACIFIC,
ASIA, AND THE WORLD
Above: South Koreans protest construction of a Navy base to port warships carrying Aegis missile technology --
the same technology tested at Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), on Kauai’s west side.
KAPAA LIBRARY - Tuesday, Feb 21, 2012 6:30 PM - FREE____________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why The Birthers Are Right For All The Wrong Reasons:
Re-Centering the Law and De-Centering Race
In Hawaiʻi
Local—Global Colloquium Series: UHM Political Science
In the seminal court proceedings in Sai v. Obama (2010), the U.S Federal District Attorney’s office, relying on the political inclination of the U.S. District Court of Appeals (District of Columbia Circuit), pleaded:
“An ‘unusual need’ exists for adherance to the political decision to annex Hawaii in 1898. In the 113 years that have passed since that decision was made, Hawaii has become a firmly established part of the United States—a vital part of its political, economic, and military workings. Over One Million Hawaiians live as United States Citizens. Indeed, President Barack Obama’s status as a ‘natural born citizen’ derives from his birth in the State of Hawaii.”
While analyzing this plea by the Federal Attorney’s office to invoke the Political Question Doctrine, this colloquium examines the theoretical and practical function of law as a method to expose the politics of race in Hawaiʻi. Since the turn of the 19th century, the imposition of U.S. Citizenship and American racial formations have played an effective role in obscuring legal recourse with the U.S. The tactical mobilization of rights in Sai, reconceptualizes previous attempts to employ law as a venue for liberation, while recasting light upon U.S. Constitutional Law as a possible site of resistance to the illegal U.S. occupation of Hawaiʻi.
Willy Kauai is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He is also a Research Assistant for the Department of Ethnic Studies and a Lecturer at Windward Community College. His dissertation, E ʻracingʻ Hawaiian Nationality: The Politics of Identity in Occupied Hawaiʻi, provides a historical and contemporary account of citizenship law in HawaiʻI, while examining the intersecting politics of race therein.
Keanu Sai earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He specialized in International Relations, International Law, and Constitutional Law, with a particular focus on the legal and political history of Hawaiʻi. He currently serves as a consultant to two law firms, a title insurance claims company, and private individuals. He is also is a part-time lecturer in Hawaiian Studies at Windward Community College and serves as a committee member on three doctoral committees.
Friday, February 17, 2012
2:30-4:00 pm
Saunders 624, The Friedman Room
-------------------------------------
Congratulations to Hoku on her new book!
12/09/11
Nevi and Clare's Aloha Party!
------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to Heather and Rex!!
The Institute for Alternative Futures, Alexandria, Virginia, offered
prizes to encourage people from different regions of the world to
include people from poor and marginalized populations in the creation
of images of the future that include surprising successes for the
world’s poor. These efforts could use IAF's "pro-poor scenario
toolkit" or other tools. IAF offered to publish the submitted
scenarios on its website and award up to $5,000 for the best
submissions. Submissions were evaluated by an international panel of
experts from the fields of foresight and international development
based on the extent to which they:
Placed poor populations at the center of concern. That is, the
scenarios needed to be well developed based on forecasts that would be
important to the future of the global poor.
Presented at least three different scenarios for the future. This is
because one of the key functions of foresight methods is to grapple
with the inherent uncertainty of the future.
Connected compelling and plausible images of the future with present
realities to clarify decisions and provide meaningful recommendations
for action.
Special consideration was given to scenarios that engaged or included
poor or marginalized populations in their development.
The following three scenarios were judged most commendable by the
panel of judges and have been awarded a cash prize of $5,000, $2,000,
and $1,000, respectively:
Engaging the Shipibo-Coniba Community, submitted by Gonzalo Alcalde,
Romeld Bustamante, and Ruth Llacsahuanga from Peru.
Mineral Extraction and Pro-poor Futures in Afghanistan, submitted by
Umar Sheraz from Pakistan.
Poverty 2039 – Exercises in Pro-Poor Foresight, submitted by Rex
Troumbley and Heather Frey from Hawaii.
Honorable mentions went to:
King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality Scenarios 2030, submitted by Lee
Rosenzweig, Geci Karuri-Sebina, Monwabisi Mbana, Louis van der Merwe
from South Africa.
Pro-Poor Scenarios for Pakistan, submitted by Mariya Absar and Ali
Shah from Pakistan.
Visions of Somalia in 2039, submitted by Tessa Finlev and Aaron
Gardner from New York.
Congratulations and many thanks to all! All of the submitted
scenarios can be found at
www.altfutures.org/pro_poor_scenarios_competition.
DISSERTATION DEFENSE
THE LAST FRONTIER
The Last Frontier: Practices of externalization of migration control within Europe and beyond
The dissertation that follows analyzes everyday practices of externalization of African migration control beyond and within Europe’s geopolitical limits, in sites such as detention centers in Libya, but also in Rome; in dinghies adrift at sea among herds of sophisticated military vessels, but also in machine-readable bodies adrift within European digital data fields. After exploring at length the role of Gaddafi’s Libya in the last ten years as a gendarme of Europe, we will deploy methodologies not only of International Relations, but also of transnationalism and translocalism to expand the concept of externalization beyond geospatial accounts of borders. Moving through spaces of in/security, and times of panic, this work will redefine borders and frontiers in ways that can account for their dialectical nature, and for the dialectical nature of political life practices.
December 13, 2011
Saunders Hall 624
12:00 – 2:00 PM
--------------------------TIME CHANGE SEE ABOVE------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dissertation Defense
(RE)SEARCHING IDENTITY: BEING CHAMORRO IN
AN AMERICAN COLONY
BY MARY THERESE F. CRUZ
ABSTRACT
In 1944, American military forces landed on Guam to (re)capture the island after it was invaded by the Japanese. The American military, then, secured control of the island and began rehabilitation efforts that eventually led to the construction of large military bases that would facilitate the continued occupation of Guam by Americans. Since WWII, Chamorus were forced to contend with the melding of two cultures in the midst of a drastically changing world; and Chamoru identity, inevitably, became implicated in these changes brought on by American colonialism.
This project examines the emergence of Chamoru identity on Guam as Chamorus continued to negotiate their place within the context of American rule. This project further (re)searches Chamoru identity as it has been re-imagined since the “liberation” of the island through the use of historical texts, social and cultural symbols of identity, and Chamoru narratives. It critically examines the extent to which Guam’s American colonizer helped shape Chamoru identity as well as the role that Chamorus played in the negotiation of their identities. While identity tends to be analyzed in terms of psychological and social motives, this project instead looks at the historical and political impetus through which identity becomes re-imagined. This suggests that, in the negotiation between power and agency, a Chamorro identity was formed and then internalized, maintained, and deployed in the colonial context by both the American colonizer and the colonized Chamoru to facilitate the continued domination of the island and its people.
Friday, December 16th, 2011
11:00am-1:00pm
Saunders 624, The Friedman Room
-------------------
12/2/11
---------------------------------------------
12/1/11
Colloquium
Scheduled for Friday, December 02, 2011
Event Title: Local-Global Colloquium: Gathering Critical Voices on APEC
Description: A Panel Discussion with Aya Kimura (Professor, Women’s Studies Program); Kathy Ferguson (Professor, Women’s Studies Program & Political Science Department) and Laura Lyons (Professor, Department of English) Co-sponsored by the Political Science Department.
Speaker(s): Aya Kimura, Kathy Ferguson, Laura Lyons
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Saunders 624, The Friedman Room
Sponsored by: Political Science and Political Science and Women’s Studies Departments
Other Information: Refreshments will be Provided
-----------------------------
11/18/11
Globalizations; Special Forum on the Arab Revolutions
Check out this special issue co-edited by Professor Nevzat Soguk and Anna M. Agathangelou.
Introduction:
"Rocking the Kasbah: Insurrectional Politics, the "Arab Streets", and Global Revolution in the 21st Century" by Agathangelou, Anna M. and Soguk, Nevzat
"Uprisings in 'Arab Streets', Revolutions in 'Arabs Minds'!" A Provocation by Soguk, Nevzat
"Tehran's Delayed Spring?" by Farhi, Farideh
"Libya's 'Black' Market Diplomacies: Opacity and Entanglements in the Face of Hope and Horror" by Opondo, Sam Okoth
Gills, Barry Ed. et.al. Globalizations; Special Forum on the Arab Revolutions. Globalizations,V8:5, Routledge, October 2011
-------------------------------------------------
11/18/11
Local-Global Colloquium
The Planned and Unplanned Privatization of American Higher Education Institutions
with Deane Neubauer
Professor Emeritus, Political Science
American higher education institutions face unprecedented challenges. The drastic and persistent decline in the amount of public spending for public higher education is leading to what amounts to their their "unplanned privatization" as in order to remain financially viable they are forced to seek increasing portions of their funding from private sources, including, of course, student fees and tuition. Simultaneously, the portion of the American higher education market accounted for by occupation-oriented proprietary higher education continues to grow as well, now amounting for in excess of 10% of all higher education enrollments. In this talk I explore these trends and examine yet a third dimension of public/private with a review of the current attack on higher education accreditation including celebrated and very critical U.S. Senate hearings.
Friday, November 18th, 2011
2:30-4:00PM
The Friedman Room, Saunders 624
--------
11/10/11
Professor Manfred Steger (UHM Political Science) will deliver the keynote address for the APEC Voices of the Futures Conference at Bishop Museum on Thursday, November 10 at 7pm. Entitled "Globalization and the Ideological Struggle of the 21st Century," Steger's talk will be addressed to 120 youth leader delegates from all 21 APEC member nations.
--------
11/2/11
Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua officially signed her book contract with the University of Minnesota Press. Her book is entitled: Sovereign pedagogies: Portraits of a Native Hawaiian charter school.
Katharina Heyer has bee elected as the LSA Trustee Class of 2014 for a three year term.
--------
11/1/11
Manfred B. Steger Awarded Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant (2012-14) - Professors Manfred B Steger (U.H Manoa-Political Science) and Paul James (RMIT University, Australia) have been awarded $120,000.00 for their research project entitled “Globalization and the Formation of Meaning: The Career of a Key Concept.” As chief investigators they seek to discover how “globalization” has become the most powerful buzzword of our time. The project will examine texts, contexts and interview the most prominent globalization experts in the English-speaking world to develop the first comparative history of the concept.
Congratulations Manfred!!
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Street Politics of Thai Media Culture
with Noah Viernes
Monday, October 31, 2011
1:30 - 3:00pm
The Friedman Room
______________________________________________
Unintelligible Bodies: Gender, Necropower, and the Problem of Political Modernity in the Postcolonial Philippines
with Melisa S.L. Casumbal-Salazar
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
2:30-4:00pm
Saunders 624, The Friedman Room
--------
10/28/11
Heather Frey and Rex Troumbley just received word from Jonathan Peck, President of the Institute for Alternative Futures in Alexandria, Virginia, that their scenario on “Poverty 2039” won the $1000.00 third prize in an international contest run by the Institute.
The announcement said, “Our panel praised the great creativity of your images, writing and policy recommendations. By involving students from different cultures you managed to bring multiple perspectives together for the alternative images of poverty in 2039. You effectively dealt with big global issues in a provocative and readable treatment.”
Congratulations to you both
--------
10/28/11
Reclaiming ĆELANEN:
Land, Water, and Governance
This colloquium features the research of the participants of the 2011 Indigenous Politics Summer Exchange with the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. In the course students and faculty focused on three theoretical and practical areas:
Decolonization by regenerating land and water-based practices; Education and youth work; and
Food sovereignty.
12:30 - 2:00
Moderator: Dr. Hokulani Aikau
Katie Kamelamela
The Politics of Contemporary Pit cooking Practices: Lessons of Food Sovereignty from Victoria, British Colombia to the Hawaiian Islands
Kaleo Wong
Ma ka ‘ōlelo nō ke ola, ma ka ‘ōlelo nō ka make
No‘eau Peralto
A Koholālele Pau Ka ‘Ino a Ka Makani Hao Kō‘ala Ka ‘Ino a Ke A‘eloa:
Re-membering Place & ‘Ike Kupuna in Koholālele, Hāmākua, Hawai‘i
Megumi Chibana
Being Indigenous: from Okinawa to Hawai‘i, and to Victoria, Canada
2:30 - 4:00
Moderator: Dr. Noenoe Silva
Kahealani Lono
Ua Lehulehu a Manomano ka ‘Ikena a ka Hawai‘i.
Kahikina de Silva
Ka‘ala, Molale I Ka Mālie: The Staying Power Of Love And Poetry
Maya Saffery
Eia Hawai‘i, He Moku, He Kanaka:
Is “Hawaiian Place-Based Education” Possible Without Hawaiians?
Friday, October 28th
12:30 to 2:00pm and 2:30 to 4:00pm
The Friedman Room, Saunders 624
Refreshments will be provided
--
--------
Graduate Achievement Scholarshi-OPEN NOW!
Applications for the Achievement Scholarship are being accepted from October 20, 2011 until November 3, 2011.
Applications should be submitted to the main office, Room 640 Saunders Hall, by 4:00 pm on November 3. You are advised to submit your application before the deadline; applications slipped under the office door will not be accepted.
*NO LATE APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED
*APPLICATIONS MUST BE COMPLETE TO BE CONSIDERED
*APPLICANTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT THEIR APPLICATION IS COMPLETE
*EACH PAGE OF THE MATERIALS YOU SUBMIT WILL BE TIME STAMPED BY THE OFFICE STAFF WHEN THE APPLICATION IS RECEIVED
*REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS WILL BEGIN ON NOVEMBER 4
APPLICATION
Call for Applications:
2011 Law and Society Schubert Award
Graduate students in political science are highly encouraged to attend the
2012 International Conference on Law and Society, which will take place in Honolulu, June 5-8, 2012.
The Conference theme is: “Sociolegal Conversations across a Sea of Islands” building on a phrase coined by noted Polynesian scholar Epeli Hau’ofa. The conference theme alludes both to the location of the conference meeting in Hawai’i with its complex cultural and legal terrain and contemporary struggles over sovereignty and indigenous rights; and to the uniqueness of this opportunity for scholars from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America, and other world regions to engage in conversation. The conference seeks papers, panels, and roundtables aimed at stimulating conversations that will build bridges across the seas of law and society and at the same time redirect their currents; about issues and ideas that are at once locally grounded and globally relevant; that seek to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar; that cross national, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries.
To encourage participation by political science graduate students, the Schubert Award will be used to sponsor up to ten (10) students attending the conference by paying for conference registration fees and a meal allowance for three days ($200 award).
To apply, students will submit an abstract (max 500 words) of a paper they will present at the conference. Papers are encouraged from a broad variety of themes, both traditional socio-legal topics (such as courts and litigation, legal education, health, legal pluralism) as well as broader topics (such as indigenous peoples, finance and economy, war and human security, immigration, counter-terrorism, transnational regulation, globalization, and recolonization). Paper panels comprising a collection of 3-5 papers, a panel chair, and a discussant under a common theme are highly encouraged.
Deadline to submit your application: November 21, 2011
Qualification of eligibility
Criteria for selection
- Recipients must be full-time or part-time graduate students enrolled in the UHM Department of Political Science.
- Academic merit demonstrated by a minimum cumulative GPA 3.5 or above.
- Preference shall be given to students studying public law, law and society or biopolitics.
- Successful applicants will submit their paper abstracts to the LSA by December 6, 2011.
Evidence
- CV or Resume
- 500 word abstract for proposed paper applicant wishes to be presented at the 2012 Conference
Students should send above materials by 21 November to:
Schubert Award Committee
UHM Department of Political Science, 2424 Maile Way, Saunders 640 HNL, HI 96822
EWC Alum Named Environmental Adviser
to President of the Philippines
HONOLULU (Sept. 8, 2011) -- Philippines President Benigno Aquino III has appointed East-West Center alumnus Juan Romeo Nereus Acosta to the newly created cabinet post of Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection.
President Aquino told the press that Acosta, who is popularly known by the nickname “Neric,” will be tasked with coordinating environmental concerns for a “coherent implementation of policy.”
“(He) will help me have a better, sharper focus because he will be able to tackle it in a more in-depth manner,” Aquino said after Acosta was sworn in on Aug. 24.
.
As a former elected representative from Bukidnon province in Mindanao, Acosta was known as a leader on environmental issues, including authoring the country’s landmark Clean Air Act.
East-West Center President Charles E. Morrison extended his congratulations to Acosta on behalf of the EWC community. “Neric’s prestigious appointment is a wonderful example of the kind of impact that many Center alumni have in serving their countries throughout the Asia Pacific region,” Morrison said. “We wish him every success in his vital new position.”
Prior to his appointment, Acosta served as associate professor at the Asian Institute of Management and the Ateneo de Manila University. He earned his doctorate degree in political science from the University of Hawai‘i in 1994 as an East-West Center grantee.
LOCAL-GLOBAL Colloquium Series 2011:
Local-Global Colloquium
Department of Political Science
The Rebirth of Politics:
From Beijing and Berlin to Jakarta, Cairo and Beyond
Professor Manfred Henningsen
Nevi Soguk delivered on February 18 in a Political Science Colloquium a fascinating interpretation of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, seeing them as dramatic chapters in the civilizational reconfiguration of the Islamic world. As impressed as I was by the intellectual pathos of his presentation, I was not completely convinced by his thesis.
Planning a talk for an engagement in Berlin at the end of May, I wrote a paper about the political dynamics of 1989 and the decades of turmoil that followed. I saw a continuity of sorts stretching from Beijing to Cairo and beyond. The dynamics began to unfold in April of 1989 on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, ending on June 4 in a bloodbath. This bloody trajectory was also planned by the East German Communists for the GDR in October of that year. The cunning of history offered another solution, namely the fall of the Berlin Wall in November and the collapse of all state socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself.
The collapse of the authoritarian regimes of the Left in the early 90s was followed among other things, by the overthrow of the military regime in the largest Islamic country in the world, namely Indonesia (by the way, this overthrow brought some of our PhD students into power). I see similarities between the civil society dynamics in the 1980s and 90s and the political transformation in the North African societies. But I don’t want to stop in Northern Africa. I consider the riots that hit English cities in August of this year, despite the dismissal of them as criminal behavior by marginal groups, as the beginning of a wave of semi-revolutionary unrest that emerged already in Greece, Spain, France, Italy and Chile and will sooner or later also affect the USA. After all, the contrast between the obscene concentration of wealth at the top and the growing impoverishment of the rest of society is not limited to class-ridden Britain but has become the American story par excellence as well.
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
2:30-4:00pm
The Friedman Room, Saunders 624
University of Hawaii at Manoa
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED!
Libya in transition
Springs are brief in Arab countries, if they ever blossom. We have rapidly shifted from a season of revolutionary enthusiasm to one of economic depression and geopolitical instability. On the shores of Libya, the specter of a new Somalia is everyday more real, with or without Col. Gaddafi. In Egypt and Tunisia, youth’s aspirations are frustrated by old power structures. Meanwhile prophets of misfortune on the European shores sigh for the old regimes as they foresee the wretched of the Earth crossing the Mediterranean hiding Islamic extremists among them. More than an Arab Spring on the Maghreb coast, thus, the situation feels more like a Mediterranean Autumn. Moving further East from Syria to Yemen via Bahrain, encounters with revolts shake the Arab peninsula and the Middle East while the US is re-evaluating its role of world super-cop. If the quick sands of instability should swallow the Saudi monarchy and the world’s largest reserve of fossil fuel, the question resides with a future of freezing winter for everyone.
A roundtable of experts discusses the turbulent situation unfolding in the region and its implications for the U.S. and the world.
Date & Time: Friday, September 30, 2011
Location: 624 Saunders Hall, Friedman Room
Moderator: Manfred Steger Department of Political Science
Panelists: Nevzat Soguk Department Of Political Science
Ibrahim Aoudè Ethnic Studies Department
Farideh Fahri Department Of Political Science
Lorenzo Rinelli Department Of Political Science
Refreshments will be provided
LOCAL-GLOBAL COLLOQUIUM
Burqas in Back Alleys: Street Art, hijab, and the Reterritorialization of Public Space
John A. Sweeney, PhD Candidate
On April 14, 2011, France implemented its controversial ban of the niqab and burqa, commonly referred to as the Islamic veil, in public places. Instituting a normative “regime of visibility,” the French veil ban encapsulates the political economy of agency, now both mediated and representational, under the rule of nationalist governmentalities within increasingly globalized public spaces. Adjudicating presence within public space signals a concern with the sensory aspects of agency itself—what Rancière terms the “distribution of the sensible,” and the ultimate end of such policies centers on the affirmation of delicately crafted and spatially managed "home economics." The French government's attempt to make (bodily) sense of public space for its citizens by and through policies aimed against a burqa-clad Muslim minority, which might only apply to “less then 400 to fewer than 2,000” women, reveals the necessary, yet mercurial, reterritorialization of public space into national space through bio-political strategies of sense-making.
Just as examining the punishments for breaking the veil ban can map the ideological terrain of French politics, a representational genealogy of street artist's deployment of hijab and female Muslim identity can assist in mining the depths of public space as a site of bio-political control and contestation in light of recent events in France and the rising tide of anti-multiculturalist rhetoric across Europe and the States. Using the work of Shepard Fairey, Princess Hijab, br1, and Banksy, this paper sets out to answer a number of key questions concerning the deployment of hijab, and female Islamic identity in particular, within street art. Even though each artist depicts various amalgamations of hijab in their respective corpus, they share common tropes that raise significant questions concerning the veil debate, namely: what are the conditions of possibility for the hijab to become a marker of Islamic identity within public space? How can we make sense of the representational topologies within street art's utilization of the hijab and female Islamic identity in light of the French ban? How might these aesthetic imag(in)ings simultaneously inhabit and combat normative discourses concerning hijab, multiculturalism, female Islamic identity, and public space? Ultimately, this project situates the veil at the crossroads of competing, yet deeply interconnected, spiritual and material economies of representationality where the articulation of agency remains a global/local concern with decidedly local/global ramifications.
Friday, October 7, 2011
2:30pm – 4pm
Saunders 624, Harry Friedman Room
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED!
ANNOUNCING THE 2012 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LAW AND SOCIETY
June 5-8, 2012
Hilton Hawaiian Village
Honolulu, Hawai’i (USA)
We invite you to participate in the 2012 International Conference on Law and Society: Joint Annual Meetings of the Law and Society Association and the Research Committee on Sociology of Law (International Sociological Association), co-sponsored by the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA), the Japanese Association of Sociology of Law (JASL), and the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA), UK.
The Call for Participation and Submission Site* will be available on October 4, 2011.
Deadline for submission of proposals is December 6, 2011.
Proposals for Individual Papers and Fully-Formed Sessions are welcome.
THEME: Sociolegal Conversations across a Sea of Islands
Building on a phrase coined by noted Polynesian scholar Epeli Hau¢ofa, our conference theme alludes both to the location of our meeting in Hawai¢i with its complex cultural and legal terrain and contemporary struggles over sovereignty and indigenous rights; and to the uniqueness of this opportunity for scholars from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America, and other world regions to engage in conversation. So we seek papers, panels, and roundtables aimed at stimulating conversations that will build bridges across the seas of law and society and at the same time redirect their currents; about issues and ideas that are at once locally grounded and globally relevant; that seek to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar; that cross national, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries.
Our theme is broad, encompassing socio-legal concerns both familiar (such as courts and litigation, legal education, health, legal pluralism) and novel (such as indigenous peoples, finance and economy, war and human security, immigration, counter-terrorism, transnational regulation, globalization, and recolonization). Please see below for a non-exhaustive list of possible topics. They are examples only. Other law and society topics are welcome.
We look forward to receiving your submissions.
LIST OF POSSIBLE TOPICS
Courts and litigation, including the recent efflorescence of new kinds of judicial mechanisms (e.g. constitutional and administrative courts) and the importation of others (e.g. juries and lay judges).
The training of a highly qualified, independent, and incorruptible judiciary.
Gender issues in law and society.
Legal education and the legal profession, the careers of lawyers, and recent trends aimed at reform or transformation of training and credentialing.
Indigenous peoples, including their connection to such issues as human rights, natural resources, migration, self-government, children, adoption, and identity. The PC encourages papers and panels in which the experiences of native peoples in Hawaii are connected to experiences of indigenous peoples in other world regions, particularly in Asia and the Pacific.
Religion and law; new theories of secularism; religious and secular law.
Regulation, including new forms of non-governmental and trans-national regulatory approaches and their relationship to traditional national regulatory mechanisms.
Health, including HIV-AIDS, healthcare policy, aging.
Financial markets, trade, foreign investment, and the global impact of the financial crisis in a broad range of areas that are of interest to sociolegal scholars.
Immigration and the unprecedented flows of workers across national boundaries throughout the world
Human security, violence, war, dispossession, refugees.
Security, technologies of security, governmentality, counter-terrorism.
East-West dialogue concerning different legal orders and models of law; impact of globalization on different legal traditions.
New concepts of legal pluralism and legal culture in relation to new forms of legal ordering.
Colonialism, globalization, and recolonization.
The United Nations and other transnational bodies, especially in relation to global governance, international conflict, and peacekeeping.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE: http://www.lawandsociety.org/ann_mtg/am12/program_committee.htm
CONFERENCE ADMINISTRATION: The Executive Office of the Law and Society Association will provide central administration for the meeting, which will include: submission procedures, meeting registration, exhibits, accommodation options, meeting schedule, meeting room assignments, letters to support visa application, and other attendance planning matters.
*SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL Both the 2012 Proposal Submission Site and Meeting Registration will be accessible through LSA’s “User Services” Site, requiring just one login account for all meeting services. Beginning October 4, a link to the submission site will appear in the menu after you log in to “User Services.” (Meeting Registration will be available in early winter.)
DO I HAVE AN ACCOUNT? YES! You do have an account!** This email was sent by LSA to the email address in your LSA "User Services" Account profile. We suggest you update your Account profile now. Follow the steps below to log in:
1) Go to: www.lawandsociety.org The Law and Society Association Website.
2) Click on “User Services” in the left menu (you might bookmark this page for future use)
3) Click on “Login”
4) Enter your “Primary Email Address” (the email address used to deliver this message) and your “Password” and Click on “Go.”
I’VE FORGOTTEN MY PASSWORD. Follow the steps above through #3. Then:
4) Click on “Forgot Password.”
5) Enter the email address that is in your account (the address at which you received this message) and Click on “Go.” An email will be sent to you so you can change your password.
I NEED HELP:
Email rose@lawandsociety.org
**If you received this email as a forwarded message and not from @lawandsociety.org, you may not have an LSA "User Services" account. Check with rose@lawandsociety.org if you are unable to login.
We look forward to seeing you in Hawai’i!
DISSERTATION DEFENSE
Prospects for Collaborative Power in a Brutal Universe
by
Martin A. Schwab
Political Science
This dissertation develops a new way to think about and exercise power. Collaborative power
among nations, corporations, academe and indigenous peoples is presented through traditional
political science literature and popular media. This understanding of power models how the
human race might overcome or evade annihilation from forces within, on and outside Earth.
These forces include but are not limited to super volcanoes, rapid pandemics of disease and
uncharted asteroids and comets on Earth crossing orbits.
Instead of advocating for greater international organization to meet these threats, the
dissertation details practical and scalable 3x3 Global Drills. This nine-nexus prototyping model
is designed to aid organizations to engage global threats by integrating three pan-disciplinary
perspectives, 1) Environments 2) Individual and Society 3) Space Endeavors with three panregional
regional perspectives, 1) Americas 2) Africa-Europe and 3) Asia-Pacific. Use of the
process is also designed to foster social promotion and cohesion among individuals worldwide
through intergenerational migration into the solar system and beyond. In this way the human race
can begin to reduce its general vulnerability in a brutal universe.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
12:00pm – 2:00pm
Saunders 624
International Cultural Studies Program
Speakers series Fall 2011
Location: Burns 2118 (East-West Center)
Day, Time: Wednesdays, noon to 1:30 pm
Contact: Ruth Y. Hsu (Director), rhsu@hawaii.edu
The Fall 2011 Speaker Series examines cultural or social change or movements in the Modern Age to the present day. All critical methods are welcome, such as critical race theory, indigenous studies, feminisms, literary studies, studies of visual and material cultures, post-colonial theory, queer theory, performance studies, film and media studies, eco-criticism, and so on. Speakers might focus on literary or cultural texts (murals, movies, poetry, music, comics, exhibitions, social media, concerts, memorials, etc.) or on wide-spread events or public discourse, such as but not limited to: woman’s suffrage, anti-Abolitionist Movement, Arab Spring, the protection of indigenous rights, the May Fourth Movement; protests against war, the WTO, the erosion of unions; protests against and for immigration, etc...
Titles subject to modification:
September 7 – Thomas S. Dye, PhD (Anthropology)
Title: "The right not to be excluded: Some milestones of its history in Hawai`i"
September 28 - Lynette Cruz, PhD (Anthropology, HPU)
Title: "Head Candy/Gut Connection: How Reenacting a Historic Event Changes the Present"
October 5 - Hala Ghoname, M.A. Candidate in Art History
Title: “The Arab Spring” – eye-witness account and political discourse
October 12 - Kirstin Pauka, PhD (Asian Theater)
Title: “Randai theatre from West Sumatra and its adaptation in the Asian Theatre Program at UHM”
October 19 - Jaimey Hamilton, PhD (Art & Art History)
Title: “alternaAPEC: What is the current state of art activism?”
October 26: Christina Gerhardt, PhD (Languages and Literatures)
Title: "From Social Movements to Armed Struggle:The Historical Context of West Germany's Red Army Faction."
November 2 - Gaye Chan, MFA (Art & Art History) and Nandita Sharma, PhD (Sociology)
Title: Common Futures: "Eating in Public" and the Production of New Subjectivities”
November 9 - Kathy Ferguson, PhD (Political Science and Women’s Studies)
Title: "Why Feminism needs Anarchism”
November 16 - Wimal Dissanayake, PhD (Media Studies)
Title: “Film studies, cultural studies, and Asian cinema”
November 30 - Urvashi Chakravarty, PhD (English Studies)
Title: "Reimagining the Help: Service, Nostalgia, and Cultural Revisionism."
December 7 - Robert Perkinson, PhD (American Studies)
Title:” Racism and Imprisonment in the Age of Obama”
The 21st World Futures Studies Federation World Conference (WFSF 21/11)
- in collaboration with -
The 3rd Global Higher Education Forum (GHEF 2011)
Penang, Malaysia, 13-15th December 2011
“Global Higher Education:
Reflecting the Past, Designing Sustainable Futures”
More information:
<http://www.wfsf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=378&Itemid=152>
8/23/11
Irina Velicu's successful dissertation defense!
8/12/11
Download 2011 Graduate Student Guide
7/28/11
Summer Improvemnts: Friedman Room Makeover
New carpet, chairs, table and technology- check ou tthe transformation-
Before
During
11
After
3/28/11
UHM Indigenous Politics Program Receives OHA Funds for International Academic and Cultural Exchange For Six Native Hawaiians
The Indigenous Politics Program in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa has received a $25,000 grant to provide tuition and stipends for six Native Hawaiians to participate in Land, Water, and Governance: Reclaiming 'Ćelánen'(Ancestry/Birthright), a two-week exchange with indigenous scholars and practitioners in Victoria, British Columbia. The exchange is a collaboration between the Indigenous Politics Program at UHM and the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria.
Land, Water, and Governance: Reclaiming 'Ćelánen' offers a unique opportunity for cross-cultural study of indigenous practices in the seminar room as well as in the community. It is a part of a broader course of study that prepares Master’s and PhD students at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa to think critically about issues facing the Native Hawaiian and other indigenous communities. The mission of the program is to nurture individuals to engage in a critical praxis of indigenous politics and to strengthen the relationships between the university and indigenous communities. In keeping with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ `Āina strategic priority, this summer exchange trains Native Hawaiian scholars to participate in responsible stewardship of Ka Pae ʻĀina in order to maintain the connection to the past and move forward with a viable land and water base.
More information about the exchange can be found on the Indigenous Politics website at http://www.politicalscience.hawaii.edu/indigenouspolitics.
01/26/11
American Politics Position
Position open for Assistant Professor, American Politics, Department of Political Science, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa. (For full posting, click header).
01/07/11
Retirement party for John Wilson, George Kent and Neal Milner.
12/10/10
End of semester celebration for Social Sciences.
12/9/10
International Relations Position
Position open for Assistant Professor, International Relations/Global Politics, Department of Political Science, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa. (For full posting, click header).
11/12/10
Lecture: THE NORTH POLE: or how I stopped worrying about freezing to death and learned to love the cold
Scheduled for: 2:30:PM on Friday, November 12, 2010.
Speaker: Debora Halbert
Description: Between mid-March to mid-May of 2010, I participated in a 320 nautical mile race to the 1996 magnetic location of the North Pole. The race departed from Resolute Canada with all participants skiing together five days, and approximately 60 nautical miles to the starting line. My team, the last to complete the race, spent the next 16 days slowly heading north only periodically encountering other racers and fortunately not encountering any polar bears.
Location: Saunders 624
For more information please visit the Social Sciences Calendar of Events Website at
http://socialsciences.people.hawaii.edu/events
11/5/10
By Denby Fawcett, Political Reporter for KITV4 Island Television News
Dan Boylan, Political Analysist
Neal Milner, Political Science Professor
Friday, November 5, 2010
2:30-4:00 pm
Saunders 624, Harry Friedman Room
10/29/10
Lecture: Globalization in the Future Perfect Tense
The political economic tendencies euphemized as “globalization” that proceeded under ideological cover of neoliberalism and the latter’s shrill chants of the “market’s” epiphany have in fact unraveled the capitalist production centered economy as it existed over the past two centuries.
Speaker: Dr. Richard Westra
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Saunders 624
For more information contact:
Name: Laurie Onizuka
Email: lonizuka@hawaii.edu
Phone: 956-8357
10/27/10
Lecture: You, Me, and S/He are the World: The Ideological Condensation of the Global Imaginary at the 2010 Shanghai Expo
Building on my previous work on the rising global imaginary and its articulation by various competing global political ideologies (globalisms), this presentation takes these macro-mappings of social and political space to the micro-level of representational urban spaces in the Asia-Pacific region.
Speaker(s): Manfred B. Steger Professor of Global Studies Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Saunders 624
For more information contact:
Name: Laurie Onizuka
Email: lonizuka@hawaii.edu
Phone: 956-8357
09/14/10
2010 University of Hawaii Awards Convocation
The Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research is awarded by the Board of Regents in recognition of scholarly contributions that expand the boundaries of knowledge and enrich the lives of students and the community.
Professor Michael Shapiro has been awarded the 2010 Regent's Medal in Excellence in Research, the most prestigious research award at the university
Click here for more information on Professor Shapiro.
Established by the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Graduate Division in 2005, the Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award allows graduate students to nominate faculty for excellent mentoring, one of the foundations of outstanding graduate education. This years' winner was Professor Richard Chadwick.
Click here for more information on Professor Chadwick.
04/05/10
Professor James Dator has been named as one of the two futurists of the year. Congratulations Jim.
The Foresight Network, with over 2,400 members, and the largest network of its kind, has awarded two outstanding futures thinkers with the newly created Futurist of the Year Laurel: Hazel Henderson and Jim Dator.
04/02/10
This week has been very good for students in the Alternative Futures option in the Department of Political Science of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa:
Seongwon Park's paper on ‘Present and Future of Americanization in Korea,’ published in the Journal of Futures Studies, won an award in the Ph.D. category in the Association of Professional Futurists Student Recognition Project.
And both Scott Yim and John Sweeney were admitted to the highly–competitive ten–week program of ‘Singularity University’ at NASA Ames, California, this summer.
Congratulations to these three, and the other hardworking Futures Folks.
03/29/10
Congratulations to Professor Kate Zhou for winning a research award to attend The Hoover Archives summer workshop at Stanford University this summer.
Congratulations to Assistant Professor J. Noelani Goodyear–Ka'ōpua for receiving the Mellon–Hawai'i Postdoctoral Fellowship for the 2010–2011 school year. During that time, she will be working on a book project tentatively titled Teaching Nation: Struggles for Hawaiian Schools and Sovereignty.
Teaching Nation charts a history of Native Hawaiian engagements with schooling from the building of a public school system in the 19th century through the charter school movement of the 21st century. The efforts of Kanaka Maoli teachers and educational leaders are situated within larger struggles over Kanaka Maoli collective identity and political status, particularly focusing on struggles between Hawaiian nationalist and white supremacist schooling projects. What cultural and political aims have Kanaka Maoli promoted through school design and reform since the 1840s? How did the emerging US Empire in the Pacific articulate with local white supremacist aims and functions through schools post–1898? What dynamics of empire, racism, resistance and indigenous cultural nationalism persist in Hawaiian schools? By connecting the development and transformation of school systems in Hawai'i with educational approaches in the US South and American Pacific Islands empire, this book will examine the ways imperialism and white supremacy function flexibly, sometimes working to exterminate Natives, sometimes hollowing cultural practices to leave an acceptable veneer of indigeneity, and sometimes conscripting indigenous peoples in alliance with white supremacist ideologies and structures. The manuscript illuminates three overlapping racializing and gendering processes within this history: domestication, militarization and commodification. It ends with portraits of land–based educational initiatives that challenge these three processes and offer more expansive and innovative notions of education, sovereignty and nationhood.
Department Calendar
This calendar provides information about upcoming talks, deadlines, meetings and other important dates. Please check back regularly for upcoming events.
News
A section about the comings and goings in the department.
Photo by Lorenzo Rinelli