M & W 3:00- 4:15 BusAd - Department of Political Science

Syllabus
POLS 302 Native Hawaiian Politics Spring 2012
M & W 3:00- 4:15 BusAd D101
Professor Noenoe Silva
Saunders 640C
Office hours: M and W 9:30-11:30
956-8030 noenoe@hawaii.edu
Recent Scholarship on Native Hawaiian Issues
This course will view Native Hawaiian issues through recent scholarship, written
by mainly Kanaka Hawaiʼi scholars. It starts with a thorough grounding in history
in works in which Native Hawaiians are central. It will then cover current issues,
including disconnection and reconnection with our ʻāina (land), race, indigeneity,
cultural identity, the Akaka Bill, US militarism, and sovereignty or sustainable selfdetermination.
Student learning outcomes: at the end of the course students will have
• a greater understanding of the history of Native Hawaiians in our own land
• some critical tools with which to analyze how current events and US
politics affect Native Hawaiians
• an understanding of questions of sovereignty and self-determination for
Hawaiians
• an ability to distinguish and analyze the concepts of race and indigeneity
Required books:
Aloha Betrayed by Silva Call # - PC #298
The Wind Gourd of La‘amaomao by Moses Nakuina Call # - PC #297
Hawaiian Blood by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui Call # - PC #299
Waves of Resistance by Isaiah Helekunihi Walker
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. It is studentsʼ responsibility to
attend class to keep current.

Books may be purchased from Prof. Emeritus Oliver Lee in Saunders 634
M-Th 1-5:00 pm. Books are all available from online booksellers and at Nā Mea
Hawai‘i/Native Books at the Ward Warehouse. Three of the books are on
reserve at Sinclair Library in the Wong AV Center. They can be checked out for
2 hours at a time. If you use this service please page the books by the call
numbers above. No excuses will be accepted for not having books or
failing to do the reading.
Other readings, journal articles and book chapters, will be supplied on
laulima.
Course work
This course combines lectures, small group discussions, whole group
discussions, films, and supplementary field trips. Students are expected to
attend every class session and attendance will be taken. Students are expected
to do the reading for every session in order to participate in discussions.
Field Trips
Several times in the semester, we will have a field trip on a Saturday or Sunday.
If I can secure funding, one of these will be the decolonial tour of O‘ahu, a bus
tour of militarized sites. Others may be to Punchbowl Memorial Cemetery, a kalo
lo‘i, ‘Iolani Palace and one of the sites of the O‘ahu Army Natural Resource
Center, a program to replant native plants on Army-controlled lands.
Weekly quizzes
To encourage students to keep up with the reading, a quiz will be given each
Monday on that weekʼs reading. Unexcused absences on Mondays will thus be
doubly penalized as the grade for the quiz will be F.
Homework
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. It is studentsʼ responsibility to
attend class to keep current.

From time to time students will be given written homework assignments to be
submitted via laulima on the dropbox.
Midterm Essay Exam
At midterm, students will be assigned a take-home essay exam. This will be a 3-
4 page essay on one or more topics covered in the first half of the course.
Final Paper, Poster, and Pā‘ina
For the final exam, each student will prepare a 5-page paper and a poster based
on research on a topic covered in the course. On final exam day, students will
bring their posters to class, we will all have time to view all the posters and have
a discussion of them. Students are also encouraged to bring some food to
share. I will supply paper goods.
Grading
Attendance 30%
Quizzes 20%
Homework 15%
Midterm 10%
Final Poster 10%
Final Paper 15%
Plagiarism Warning!
All student work must be original in order to gain credit. Using anyone elseʼs
words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc. without citation is plagiarism. If you
cut and paste anything at all from a web site, for example, without putting
quotation marks around it and citing it, that is plagiarism. Plagiarism is cheating.
I will immediately fail any student who attempts to turn in a paper containing
plagiarized material. If you have any doubt at all about what constitutes
plagiarism, please ask. Plagiarism usually occurs when a student feels
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. It is studentsʼ responsibility to
attend class to keep current.

overwhelmed for some reason (assignments too heavy; family or relationship
problems; financial worries, etc.). If this should happen to you, please let me
know and we will work out something that will be a lot more beneficial to you than
cheating.
Homework assignment 1 Where are you? What is under the pavement?
Read intro to Violent Cartographies. Homework: Go to the library and, using
Sites of O‘ahu, Place Names of Hawai‘i, and Hawaiian Street Names, find out
something about the history of your neighborhood. Are there any sites sacred to
Hawaiians? Are there Hawaiian Homelands nearby? What is the meaning and
significance of a Hawaiian street name you live on or nearby? Also if you live on
a street with an English name, find out who that person was and why the street
was named after him or her.
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. It is studentsʼ responsibility to
attend class to keep current.

POLS 302 Spring 2012 Calendar
Date In class Read before
class/Whatʼs due
M Jan. 9 Introductions & syllabus
W Jan. 11 discussion: violent
cartographies
Shapiro: Intro to Violent
Cartographies
M Jan. 16 Holiday: MLK Jr. day
W Jan. 18 history via street names
and other things under
the pavement
Clark: Intro to Hawaiian
Surfing
Elbert?
M Jan. 23 mini-lecture and
discussion of politics and
governance in the time of
The Story of ‘Umi
due: Street names paper
Līloa and ‘Umi
W Jan. 25 Wind Gourd, mini-lecture Wind Gourd
and discussion on
relationship of people to
land
M Jan. 30 mini-lecture and
discussion of in tuneness
or not with winds, and
other environmental
Wind Gourd
W Feb. 1
beings
indigenous-centered
history; importance of
native language
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. It is studentsʼ responsibility to
attend class to keep current.
Aloha Betrayed, intro &
Chap. 1
M Feb. 6 Aloha Betrayed, Ch 2 & 3
W Feb. 8 Aloha Betrayed, Ch 4
M Feb. 13 Nation Within
Sat or Sun: Tour of
‘Iolani Palace
Aloha Betrayed, Ch 5
W Feb. 15 Nā Kua‘āina Ch 1
M Feb. 20 Holiday: Presidentsʼ
Day
W Feb. 22 George Helm film Nā Kua‘āina Ch 4 & 6
M Feb. 27 Hawaiian Blood Ch 1 & 2
W Feb. 29 Hawaiian Blood Ch 3
M Mar. 5 Hawaiian Blood 4 & 5
W Mar. 7 Hawaiian Blood Ch 6
M Mar. 12 Recognition & Akaka Bill Byrd, from Transit of

Empire
W Mar. 14
The Queen and I, Intro &
Chs 1 and 2
M Mar. 19 The Queen and I Ch 3
W Mar. 21 Video: Taking Waikīkī The Queen and I Chs 4,
5, and epilogue
Mar. 26-28 Spring Break
M Apr. 2 Test on Waves of
Resistance
Waves of Resistance,
Intro & Chs 1, 2, 3
W Apr. 4
Waves of Resistance Ch
4 & 5
M Apr. 9
Waves of Resistance Ch
6 & 7
W Apr. 11 Video: Noho Hewa Osorio, Pu‘uloa
M Apr. 16
Oh Say Can You See
Intro & Ch 1
W Apr. 18
Oh Say Can You See Ch
2
M Apr. 23 Lecture on importance of
Pūowaina in Hawaiian
Oh Say Can You See Ch
3 & 4
history
Sat: Walking tour of
Pūowaina/Punchbowl
W Apr. 25
Aikau, Chaps TBD
(PCC?)
M Apr. 30
Aikau, Chaps TBD
(Iosepa?)
W May 2
May 11
2:15-4:15
PM
Last day of classes
Final exam
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. It is studentsʼ responsibility to
attend class to keep current.