Latest Publications
Unruly Immigrants: Rights, Activism, and Transnational South Asian Politics in the United States
Author: Monisha DasGupta
Publisher: Duke University Press (November 2006)
ISBN: 978-0822338987
Abstract:
"Unruly Immigrants makes a vital contribution to the fields of Asian American and South Asian diaspora studies by detailing the multiple strategies by which post-1965 South Asian progressive organizations in the United States have contested notions of citizenship, belonging, authenticity, and culture."?ÄîGayatri Gopinath, author of Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures.
"Unruly Immigrants is a brilliantly written study of feminist, queer, and labor activism among post-1965 South Asian immigrants in the United States. These transnational activists confront issues of rights, citizenship, and identity to mount challenges both within and outside their communities against the monolithic positioning of South Asians as 'model minorities'. This book is a path-breaking contribution to South Asian diaspora studies."?ÄîLinda Carty, Africana Studies, Syracuse University.
Awards:
•Association for Asian American Studies Social Science Award
•The Asia & Asian America Section of the American Sociological Association
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Na Kua 'Aina: Living Hawaiian Culture
Author: Davianna Pomaika'i Mcgregor
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (April 30, 2007)
ISBN: 978-0824832124
Abstract:
BOOK ON REVITALIZING NATIVE HAWAIIAN CULTURE RECEIVES THE KENNETH BALDRIDGE PRIZE FOR HISTORY
Na Kua'aina by UH ethnic studies professor documents rural communities
Davianna McGregor, author of Na Kua'aina: Living Hawaiian Culture, was presented with the 2008 Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize for the best book in any field of history written by a resident of the state of Hawai'i. The prize is awarded by the Hawai'i regional chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society and includes a $300 cash award. Isaiah Walker, assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University, Hawai'i, made the announcement at the start of the honor society's 24th annual conference held March 15 at University of Hawai'i at Manoa Campus Center.
The prize, named in honor of Kenneth Baldridge, emeritus professor of history at BYUH, is normally awarded every two years but the 2008 one considered books published during the last three years. The panel of judges made their decision after reviewing twelve submissions from various publishers, including University of Hawai'i Press, the publisher of Na Kua'aina.
In her book, McGregor examines four rural communities and how the traditional ways of Native Hawaiians have been preserved and perpetuated by the people of those communities by embracing a subsistence lifestyle. Unlike many works of Hawaiian history that focus on events, particularly on Oahu and among the ruling elite, Na Kua'aina tells a broader and more inclusive story of the Hawaiian Islands by documenting the continuity, as well as the changes, of Native Hawaiian culture.
Davianna Pomaika'i McGregor is professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and a historian of Hawai'i and the Pacific. Na Kua'aina: Living Hawaiian Culture is available at local bookstores and libraries.
Books may also be ordered directly from UH Press website at www.uhpress.hawaii.edu or by phone at: (808) 956-8255 • 1-888-847-7377.
For more information, including the cover image, contact Carol Abe in the University of Hawai'i Press marketing department at (808) 956-8697, or email: abec@hawaii.edu. Also visit the UH Press website: www.uhpress.hawaii.edu.
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Ethnicity and Inequality in Hawai'i
Author: Jonathan Y Okamura
Publisher: Temple University Press (April 28, 2008)
ISBN: 978-1592137565
Abstract:
Jon Okamura's book, Ethnicity and Inequality in Hawai'i, was published by Temple University Press in April 2008 in its Asian American History and Culture series. Challenging the prevalent view of Hawai'i as a multicultural model of tolerance, harmony and equality among ethnic groups, he analyzes how ethnicity structures and maintains inequality in island society.
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Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawai'i
Author: Ty Tengan
Publisher: Duke University Press (Tx) (September 30, 2008)
ISBN: 978-0822343387
Abstract:
Many indigenous Hawaiian men have felt profoundly disempowered by the legacies of colonization and by the tourist industry, which, in addition to occupying a great deal of land, promotes a feminized image of Native Hawaiians (evident in the ubiquitous figure of the dancing hula girl). In the 1990s a group of Native men on the island of Maui responded by refashioning and reasserting their masculine identities in a group called the Hale Mua (the "Men's House"). As a member and an ethnographer, Ty P. Kawika Tengan analyzes how its mostly middle-aged, middle-class, and mixed-race members assert a warrior masculinity through practices including martial arts, wood-carving, and cultural ceremonies. Some of their practices are heavily influenced by or borrowed from other indigenous Polynesian traditions, including those of the Maori. The men of Hale Mua enact their refashioned identities as they participate in temple rites, protest marches, public lectures, and cultural fairs.
The sharing of personal stories is an integral part of Hale Mua fellowship, and Tengan's account is filled with members first-person narratives. At the same time, he explains how Hale Mua rituals and practices connect to broader projects of cultural revitalization and Hawaiian nationalism. Tengan brings to light the tensions that mark the group's efforts to reclaim indigenous masculinity as they arise in debates over nineteenth-century historical source materials and during political and cultural gatherings held in spaces designated as tourist sites. He explores class status anxieties expressed through the sharing of individual life stories, critiques of the Hale Mua registered by Hawaiian women, and challenges the group received in dialogues with other indigenous Polynesians. Native Men Remade is the fascinating story of how gender, culture, class, and personality intersect as a group of indigenous Hawaiian men work to overcome the dislocations of colonial history.
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