On Tuesday of week 8 we watched a film called Kumu Hina. It’s a documentary film about a transgender woman who teaches hula. She lives in Hawaii, and much of the film discusses gender issues, as well as the way that traditions in Hawaii have slowly gone away because of missionary takeover. Throughout the film you follow Hina, as well as a young girl who identifies as half, and her experience in the boys hula group.

After watching the film we had a lecture led by fellow students about Pacific Islanders. They taught us about the oppression against Pacific Islanders, and how Americans came in and took over the islands and forced out the culture. We also discussed media representation of Pacific Islanders, and the toxic way that American films portray them as either exotic and sexy, or savage-like. In particular Moana was discussed, because of the way that Disney mixed together many different Pacific Island cultures to produce a children’s cartoon, and it was well received because no one really bothered to fact check it.

On Friday during seminar we discussed the book Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers. This novel was about a young girl named Lovey and her trials and tribulations as a Japanese American growing up in Hawaii, during a time when society was heavily influenced by both race and class issues. While there was plenty to unfold in that book, our discussion focused heavily on Lovey’s interest as presenting haole, as well as a passage about one of Lovey’s teachers, and the type of abuse she inflicted on Lovey and her friend Jerry.