Pacific Postcards (S21 midterm essays)
For the midterm essay, students in spring 2021 selected a primary source (textual, visual, aural, material, or in another media) and used the arguments of a scholar we had read together to analyze the source. Why is this source interesting or important? How might you explain the source to someone unfamiliar with the Pacific Ocean?
For example, one student used Joshua Reid's and David Igler's arguments to contextualize a statement supporting Makah whaling rights, showing how cultural heritage informs political aims. Another student used work by Epeli Hauʻofa and Matt Matsuda to analyze a poem about the many meanings of Hawaiʻi/Hawaii. And a third student drew on ideas from David Igler and Dane Morrison to unpack a Southern Pacific Railroad advertisement presenting the Pacific Coast to Eastern audiences.
The essays in this section illuminate a variety of sources, helping us see connections that span Pacific Worlds.
This page has paths:
- Pacific Postcards Sean Fraga
Contents of this path:
- Oppressed or Opportunistic? The Complexities of Indigenous-European Relationships in Fort Victoria (Bridget Persson)
- Mutiny and Trade (Chris Yi)
- Disney's Depiction of the Pacific Islands: Exploration, Independence, and Pride (Daniel Han)
- We Know the Way (Eli Kleinmann)
- The Two Sides of Whaling (Ethan Vicente)
- Remnants of Imperial Science aboard the Velero III Expedition (Fabiano Andrade)
- Historical and Cultural Context of the Makah Whaling Request (Isabela Alameda)
- Disease, Colonization, and Power Dynamics in the Pacific (Kalei Stambaugh)
- Control of the Pacific (Michael Eghbal)
- The Arrival of Railways: Transforming the Eastern Pacific Coast (Michael Groner)
- The Philippines as a Continuation of Pacific Culture as a Whole (Ruby Telles)
- Santa Monica's Connection to America's Pacific Coast History (S.W.)
- Aloha Tower: Hawai'i at the Center of the Pacific (T.A.)
- An ‘Okina Makes All the Difference: A Look at Shala McKee’s “Hawaii vs. Hawaiʻi” (Stefan Popescu)