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Canoes and Banyans

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Canoes and Banyans

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Canoes and Banyans is an exotic mixture of cultural geography, and area and cultural studies designed to break through the boundaries of all three and pose critical questions about their representations – or “knowings” about Oceania. The course embraces the new works of contemporary Pacific Islander scholarship and arts in order to reconfigure the emerging meanings and cultural politics of persons and place in Oceania. Instead of conventional texts of geography and anthropology, the course is based on the current writings and films of prominent Pacific Islander writers and scholars.
 Students are meant to re-think how we understand “place” and cultural identity, and engage in problematical thinking about the “area” of “the Pacific.” The goal for students is to learn critical approaches to “culture” and area studies that will carry over into other disciplines.

Required Texts

Voyaging Through the Contemporary Pacific (2000). David Hanlon and Geoffrey White, eds. Rowman and Littlefield.

Women of the Place: Kastom, Colonialism and Gender in Vanuatu. (1994). Margaret Jolly. Harwood Academic Publishers.

Baby No-Eyes.  (1998). Patricia Grace, University of Hawaii Press.

Where we once belonged. (2001). Sia Figiel. Kaya Press.

Tales of the Tikongs. (1994). Epeli Hau’ofa, University of Hawaii Press.

Recommended: 
Inside Out: Literature, Culture Politics and Identity in the New Pacific. (1999). Rob Wilson and Vilsoni Hereniko, eds. Rowman Littlefield.

Map (required):
Reference Map of Ocenia. (1995). James A. Bier (cartographer). University of Hawaii Press.

Web Sites: Two web sites are central to this course. One is the course web site, which will contain the syllabus and the assignments and reading paper topics. The second is the Pacific Island Studies site at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
http://www.uvm.edu/~cdeburlo/

http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/
 
 
 

Course Requirements
Late papers and assignments are not acceptable. And non-attendance is not acceptable.

Participation: Class is a seminar format. All students are required to come to each class fully prepared to discuss the readings and assignments, and to take an active role in class activities. Participation (including attendance) is a significant part of your final grade. Participation by all will make an interesting and successful learning experience. It is up to you.

Papers: Students will complete a series of papers on their readings. These reading response papers will be assigned at regular intervals during the semester. The goal is for students to make the most of the books and articles assigned by in-depth and attentive thought to the ideas and meanings of the authors.
Reading Papers are 40 percent of your final grade.

Assignments: Students will also complete a series of  5 assignments during the semester. Some of these will be based directly on the readings, others will require research on the Internet or in the library. All assignments will be word-processed and handed in on the specified due date. The goal here is to expand the information available on Oceania; to learn from a variety of sources, and to learn critical analysis of research data (such as web sites).

Final Exam: The final exam is scheduled for all CE classes on the last class. It is during usual class time, in the classroom. This will be an essay exam.

Evaluation
Participation     20%
Papers               40%
Assignments     20%
Final Exam       20%