Island Connections: Workers, Tourism, and COVID-19 October 9th, 2020

Host: Ibrahim Aoudé - Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

The discussion highlighted  the plight of the tourist industry workers in the current COVID-19 environment. Hawai‘i workers are caught between calls for opening  the economy without much regard to worker safety and remaining unemployed without adequate financial support from the Federal government. 

Guest:

• Eric Gill, Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Unite Here Local-5, Hawaiʻi

Island Connections: 2020: Two Visions for the UH
September 11, 2020

Host: Ibrahim Aoudé - Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

The show focused on the administration and Board of Regents' vision of a post-COVID-19 UH as opposed to a faculty, students and staff vision of a more open, inclusive, democratic decision-making process that centers around the role of a public university in the service of all of Hawai‘i and one that truly expresses its commitment to being a Hawaiian place of learning.

Guest:

• Cynthia Franklin, Professor of English - UH Mānoa
 

From the Ruins of Racial Capitalisms to Oceanic Critique with Dr. Sharad Chari
May 7, 2020

This dialogue (May 7, 2020) with Associate Professor Sharad Chari (UC Berkeley) discussed his work in India and South Africa and how this has prompted his thinking on the questions of the intimate and the oceanic, as well as their implications for a planetary future.  This talk was moderated by Associate Professor Ty P. Kāwika and sponsored by the Department of Ethnic Studies.

Sharad Chari is a geographer at the University of California at Berkeley, affiliated to WiSER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is author of Fraternal Capital, co-editor of The Development Reader, Other Geographies, and (with the Antipode Editorial Collective) Keywords in Radical Geography, and is completing a book called Apartheid Remains.

Oceanic Connections: COFA Communities, Climate Change & COVID-19 May 5th, 2020

This community forum (held May 5, 2020) explored the environmental, cultural, and political impacts of climate change and COVID–19 in Oceania and Hawai‘i, with particular focus on the three COFA (Compact of Free Association) nations of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.  Honoring the legacy of the late Dr. Joakim “Jojo” Peter, co-founder of this series, we featured Native Pacific scholars, artists, and leaders Josie Howard, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Sha Ongelungel, and Punahele to better understand the situation on the ground and develop solutions based in Oceanic connections to environment, family, and community. This dialogue is first of a two-part event, the second being by a student-focused workshop with the Aloha ‘Āina Hip Hop Collective that to inspire hope and change through art.

Sponsored by ACCESS (Advising, Civic, and Community Engagement in the Social Sciences), Department of Ethnic Studies, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, and the office of SEED (Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity) IDEAS.

Donations to the Dr. Joakim Peter Memorial Scholarship can be made here: http://www.ajojoscholars.org
 

On The Native Pacific: Talk Story with Keith Camacho
April 23, 2020

A talk story with Associate Professor Keith L. Camacho (UCLA) as he discusses research, teaching, and activism with and for Pacific Islander communities in California, the Mariana Islands, and elsewhere.  The session was moderated by Associate Professors Ty P. Kāwika Tengan and Roderick Labrador (UHM) and sponsored by the Department of Ethnic Studies. Q&A included an important discussion (42:42 -45:51 ) on COVID-19 and Pacific Islander communities with Calvin Chang, Kanaka Maoli researcher involved with a survey organized by ‘Alisi Tulua that we are encouraging all Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to participate in: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA...