M.A. - Political Science

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/2141

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Tzō Cap'ān
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2024) Reyes, Julian; Grove, Jairus; Political Science
Awakening Pajalate and Native American Sign Language: Unveiling the failures of settler methodologies in academia, Kin, and linguisticsPajalate, the language of my people, Coahuiltecans, has been consumed, extracted, and dissected by multiple massive institutions and linguists. Furthermore, the lack of inclusion and legitimacy of Native American Sign Language in linguistic departments demonstrates a continued institutional failure. Thus, concerning the many academics who have sought to study my languages, Pajalate and Native American Sign Language are often conceptualized in a colonial framework as inanimate, dying, and extinct languages. Furthermore, there is a denial of genius and recognition of the Coahuiltecan linguists who had a massive impact on the creation of two lingua francas. These extractive mechanisms have occurred through Academia, the church, and other institutions. Their concerns have not been with or aided in the resurgence of Pajalate or Native American Sign Language. These methodologies also do not take into account the reasons why indigenous languages are going extinct and becoming endangered. These languages are dehumanized. Additionally, massive flaws are perpetuated and existent due to a settler ontological perception of Native communication and culture. These institutions have long sought to implement study and learning through a colonial methodology. These methodologies need to be revised regarding the resuscitation of these languages. Thus the language of the Coahuiltecans, Pajalate and Native American Sign Language, is experiencing diaspora and lacks revitalization. Reconceptualizing Coahuiltecan linguistics through a decolonial critique and an indigenous politics analysis encourages a kinship framework, attaching personhood to Pajalate and NSL, and rehistorization of those first indigenous linguists who created multiple lingua francas in the land of Coahuiltecans. My connection to my people grounds me and has perpetuated a disconnect from settler colonialism. Thus this paper will demonstrate the removal of settler bias, which has led to, and will lead to, astonishing linguistic and cultural revelations.
Dreams of Legal Personhood: Rights for Nature in Hawai'i
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2023) Morrow, Jake; Krishna, Sankaran; Political Science
Why should the State of Hawai’i implement substantive legal rights for nature and be the first state in the Nation to do so? The State of Hawai’i is uniquely and advantageously positioned to implement legal rights for nature for a multitude of reasons that include, the ecocentric culture of its indigenous native Hawaiian people, its popular natural spaces beloved by residents and visitors alike, and a stable democratic party supermajority in the State, among other key reasons. In doing so, Hawai’i can purposefully model, inspire and motivate other nations and American states to move in a similar direction. Because of its unique historical, environmental, political and legal background, Hawai’i‘s state constitution arguably allows for the enactment of rights of nature legislation today, even though many may not realize this or have yet to seriously consider it. Hawai’i has in the past been first or among the first of states to establish meaningful and progressive environmental initiatives and rights and leads the Nation with its many progressive environmental policies and goals. In this thesis, I argue Hawai’i should be first to enact rights of nature laws because in doing so it would bring a myriad of benefits to the state, ranging from long sought after strides in native Hawaiian self-determination, substantial aid to native ecological and environment protection efforts and sizable support for the State in achieving its admirable environmental and climate-related goals, of which it is currently struggling to meet.
Climate Maladaptation: International Organizations, Carbon Cowboys, and the Politics of Climate Change in Timor-Leste
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Mota Alves, Ariel; Grove, Jairus; Political Science
This thesis studies the role a coalition of international organizations and green investors plays in shaping the politics of climate change in Timor-Leste. It examines the extent that adaptation and mitigation projects are achieved in reducing climate-induced vulnerabilities and greenhouse emissions. Looking at discourses embedded in specific international climate projects, climate agreements, and government policy responses can critically inform how certain climate policies are designed, particularly in the context of a post-conflict nation. By critically investigating the international efforts in climate adaptation and mitigation in Timor-Leste, this thesis inquires whether technocratic and market-based solutions to climate, governed by narratives of developmentalism, can be a solution to climate crises in the country.While climate projects are positively accepted and legitimized, climate adaptation and mitigation efforts orchestrated by global actors are, arguably, deployed as pretexts to continue the reproduction of systems of domination that have the power to reorganize the authority and interfere with the local customary practices in Timor-Leste. This is seen through how international organizations depoliticize climate adaptation as a technocratic exercise, ignoring the precarities produced by climate, underpinned by shifting economic conditions and changing labor market in a highly agrarian society as Timor-Leste. On the other hand, climate mitigation efforts give rise to carbon markets, sometimes dubbed “Carbon Cowboys,” that increasingly engage in the appropriation of land and resources for environmental ends, raising potential issues of land grabbing and dispossession in a country already plagued by land tenure insecurities. This thesis proposes that a climate solution centers on decentralized authority and non-domination is possible, a practice already grounded in the Indigenous Timorese traditions of conservation.
Power Asymmetry in River Basins: Conflict and Cooperation in the Mekong River Basin
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-08) Akazawa, Ellise
Whose Kaka‘ako: Capitalism, Settler Colonialism, and Urban Development in Honolulu
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-05) Grandinetti, Tina
The common lament that Honolulu is becoming a ‘playground for the rich’, reflects David Harvey’s argument that in a neoliberal world, capital is allowed to shape the city through the process of 'accumulation by dispossession'. Importantly, in the context of settler colonialism, accumulation by dispossession is always predicated upon the dispossession of the native, whether directly or historically. Recognizing that various logics of oppression and exploitation are constantly in motion, this project aims to critically examine the collusion of capitalism, urban development, and settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi, using the district of Kakaʻako as a case study. Engaging critical urban theory, as well as the insights of indigenous theory and its critiques of settler colonialism, this project addresses corporate-led urban development in Hawaiʻi as an ongoing mechanism of violence which works to superimpose a settler colonial geography upon the landscape, render indigenous geographies unintelligible in dominant discourses, and displace indigenous and other marginalized peoples in order to facilitate the accumulation of capital.
What's going on behind those blue eyes?: The perception of Okinawa women by U.S. military personnel
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2013-05) Nashiro, Nika
Please note: This is the entirety of the thesis received by the student. "Hi Sexy! Why are you so sexified? Is that your club clothes? [sic]" was how I was greeted by a Caucasian US soldier when I was working on a US military base before starting my master's program. This has triggered me to continue my undergraduate research to master's level. What further propelled me to continue my undergraduate studies are the ongoing unethical demeanors practiced by the US military enlisted soldiers (henceforth GI) in Okinawa. I find theses inappropriate behaviors of these GIs very problematic and threatening to the local society and to the US-Japan security alliance in bigger picture. In addition to their actions, the deployment of a Marine aircraft, MV-22 Osprey, and possible deployment of Air Force Osprey CV-22 to Okinawa despite the endless protests and opposition by the local citizens made me think twice about US and Japan's stance on Okinawa. Okinawans have been raising their voices for some decades about the large US military presence in Okinawa; yet their voice is not heard by either the US or Japan; rather, it just a noise to them, making Okinawans voiceless. These ongoing monologues make me question again, "can Okinawa speak and how does the US perceive Okinawa?" My research started in Fall 2009, in response to my observation that there are limited materials for Okinawa and Okinawans to understand the US and their personnel. Though a number of publications regarding Okinawa's perspective toward the US military and the US-Japan relation have been published throughout these past years, I have yet to encounter any material that analyzes US soldiers' perspective on Okinawa (both from micro and macro level). Because of this, the majority of Okinawans lack knowledge of the US military and their personnel. When one lacks knowledge of a side, there is a chance of having misunderstandings and miscommunications. That being said, Okinawans' lack of knowledge can confuse and endanger them. The main objective of this research is to acquire the voices of the GIs who are stationed in Okinawa and inform local communities and spread awareness and knowledge to local women who often lack knowledge about GIs. I want to understand what GIs see when they look at Okinawa and Okinawan women. I also want to understand how they see, that is, how their views are framed and expressed through metaphors of feminization and sexualization. If GIs were more aware of the condescending and belittling implications of the tropes through which their vision is filtered, they might learn to see and think differently about Okinawa and Okinawan women. Educating one side of the party can eliminate some dilemmas; however, it can still cause animosity between two parties. Because of the assumption that I have made, I believe it is crucial to educate not just the Okinawan side, but the US military side as well. The significance of this research is that, by providing an alternative perspective for the local citizens, it will enhance the understanding of the US military and their personnel by the local Okinawans. Because locals lack knowledge of the US military and their personnel's view, there are tendencies for them to put themselves in dangerous situations. In addition, my research will acknowledge the importance of knowing others before hand in order to prevent any clashes between parties which could escalate into international incidents between countries. I believe this research will also benefit the US military and their personnel who are stationed in Okinawa and other US military hosting counties. By informing the US military and their personnel about their own peers' action and perception, it would acknowledge their past behavior and would influence their future decision making. Furthermore, this research can contribute to bringing solutions to the ongoing issues with US-Japan and Japan-Okinawa relations in broader perspective.
Mediating difference?: NGOs' role in the transitional justice process in Cambodia
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Miyahira, Mariko
As this brief survey of literature suggests, in order to provide an answer to the question concerning the diffusion process of the TJ norms, looking into the role of Cambodian NGOs in the ECCC process will give important insights as to how the local intermediary actors approach the potential gap between international TJ norms and domestic counterparts of those concepts. One point that needs attention in studying the diffusion process of the TJ norms is the two levels of analysis it requires: institutional level and people's understandings of the norms. While the establishment and functioning of TJ institutions may suggest that the TJ norms successfully spread to a particular locality of concern, it may not necessarily mean that the understandings of the TJ norms among the local people ensued. I argue that the Cambodian NGOs have played a significant role for the diffusion of TJ norms at the national, institutional level with their contribution to the ECCC process as agents of the ECCC, as the functioning of the ECCC in Cambodian context indicates. However, analysis at the level of the people's understandings presents a more nuanced picture. In addition to fulfilling indispensable tasks within the ECCC process, the NGOs also show potential autonomy. Motivated to join the process for their belief in the TJ norms and the opportunities they get from their participation, the NGOs attempt to promote the participation of the Cambodian people by acting as intermediaries that translate the international norms to make it resonate with Cambodian cultural and religious context. Despite their crucial role in the ECCC process as the implementer of various essential tasks for the working of the ECCC, they are nevertheless local context-bound agents that partly contribute to the dysfunctions, or pathologies, of the TJ institution. It is largely because of the role of the NGOs as agents, which requires them to work within the parameter of justice--what justice means and how it is achieved--that the ECCC defines. Similarly, this thesis also identifies the aid-dependent nature and contentious relationship with the Cambodian government as other factors that condition the NGOs. Consequently, due to such constraints, examination of the role of NGOs in the ECCC process identifies various dilemmas and tensions manifested in different ways. The arguments presented in this thesis differ from the common, somewhat idealistic and take-it-for-granted treatment of the civil society participation that the TJ literature typically takes. Instead, this study points to the need for the careful examination of the local context that conditions the NGOs. I also intend to demonstrate that paying due attention to the power of norms and its embodiment as an institution facilitates our understanding of the workings and challenges of the TJ institutions, and its implications for the norms diffusion on the ground. As for implications for norms diffusion process, the ECCC process in Cambodia suggests the significant impact top-down nature of the institutions have on the process. In specific, due to the expert authority TJ institutions have, the possibility of placing local norms in an unequal relationship relative to international norms needs to be taken seriously. As for implications for the TJ, the Cambodian case suggests that the establishment of TJ institutions does not automatically guarantee that they function well at different contexts where they are implemented. To a significant degree, the case shows the crucial role of the agents which makes the process work through their fulfillment of indispensable tasks.
Chinese disputes with Japan in the East China Sea: bilateralism over mulitaleralism
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Kim, Kylee Kaleinani
The major issues of conflict between China and Japan can be divided into the following categories: territory and resource, history and nationalism, militarism and nuclear security and the issues surrounding Taiwan. In terms of the China-Japan relationship, what means does China use to resolve these conflicts? It is my hypothesis that the majority of these issues are dealt with in a bilateral manner whenever possible. While China and Japan do interact through multilateral organizations, the preferred manner of decision making for China is always through the bilateral process, and multilateral decision making is not the primary, or the desirable, avenue through which China resolves these conflicts. Within my paper I analyze why China prefers the bilateral approach, and discuss its implications and outcomes. The case-study method is used in the analysis and the focus is on issues of territory and resource between the states. I look at two long-standing maritime and economic disputes, the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands case, as well as the Chunxiao gas field dispute. As is evident through the introduction of my thesis, the time period I focus on is from 1972 to present, since the two countries' relations normalized in this modern era and China became a member of the United Nations (UN). The thesis examines China's use of multilateral institutions, versus its bilateral behavior toward Japan in these specific dispute cases, and hypothesizes about future interaction on these disputes. I have conducted the majority of my research from books, journal articles, and newspaper articles (including United States, Chinese and Japanese news sources). Furthermore, I draw upon official white paper documents from China and Japan, official UN documents, as well as official documents from other relevant organizations. I also utilize testimonies given to the United States Congress, as well as reports from the Congressional Research Service.
Examining the U.S. and North Korea's policy decision-making processes
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-12) Kim, Ey Soo
This study examines the U.S. and North Korea's policy decision-making processes during the first North Korea nuclear crisis in 1994 when the U.S. and North Korea came to the brink of war, putting the dread of enormous economic and political burden on the shoulders of the former and cornering the latter due to fear that the regime would collapse. One of the main purposes of this study is to examine how North Korea and the U.S. narrowly escaped from imminent military confrontation during this crisis, to contribute to diplomacy rather than military confrontation. To do this, prospect theory will be exploited to construct a cognitive model to (1) describe the situational context, (2) to explore and analyze the decision-making process shaping U.S. policy regarding North Korea, and (3) to interpret North Korea's nuclear policy, which repeated confrontation and engagement against the United States. For this, two theses using prospect theory will be compared in great depth. One was written by an American, Furches, who applied prospect theory to examine U.S. President Clinton's decisions in 1994 to use or not to use preventive force against North Korea. The other was written by a Korean, Hwang, who used prospect theory to analyze North Korea's nuclear policy during the first North Korean nuclear crisis in 1994. Both value prospect theory as an useful framework for examining U.S. and North Korea policy decision-making processes with a American or Korean perspective while trying to modify the theory either with the relevance of "rational choice" explanation or the way to emphasize domestic factors with two-level3 game theory.1 My study concludes that prospect theory is useful for explaining the complex decision-making processes of both the U.S. and North Korea around the nuclear crisis issue. However, this study also found that prospect theory needed to be more developed if it was to explain how the decision maker's selection of policies is made; the updated version of cumulative prospect theory is considered as a possible alternative. And as a way to analyze the decision-making processes this study examines the U.S. and North Korea face-saving processes during the first North Korea nuclear crisis, defining the meaning of "face" as the decision maker's reputation in both domestic and international relations situations. In addition, the face-saving process is understood as the process for the protection of face against expected face-losing. This study concludes that (1) decision makers' face perception is one of the most important factors for arriving at a final decision regardless of the domain area and then (2) situational face-saving process analysis is a value consideration that goes well beyond the specific situation, anticipating future situation.
Matris ti kinaasinno/womb of being
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-08) Ortega, Nadezna Agcaoili
I begin with my story to provide a voice: an immigrant Ilokano woman's voice that carries with it the cries of the Ilokano community and other marginalized people of the world. These cries are cries against injustice and oppression. These cries not only unearth the repression and pain of the community but also challenges mainstream stories. I highlight the power of an individual voice to show that the self in becoming is political and that the individual cannot be separated from the social. Dominant narratives of history and commonly distributed knowledge highlights the history of the victors, the conquerors, but rarely are conquered and marginalized people's history and culture represented. How did this originate? How has this been reproduced? How did it become normalized? Moreover, what disrupted our reality? What changed our way of life and more specifically what disconnected us to our world, our ancestors, our ways of being? How did it change the way we did things and the way we saw the world and our relationship to it? At the same time, how did we survive and how did we challenge what was superimposed to us in order to hold on to our indigenous ways? I attribute the disruption of the indigenous world to colonialism. The land that sustained us was once vast, open, and giving but was eventually claimed and owned. The land that was once abundant is depleted and utilized by the victors for their personal gain, thereby leaving conquered people poor, barely surviving, nothing to call our own, and devastated. This has left immeasurable damages and long lasting negative consequences physically, but most importantly we are left to carry the burden of colonial trauma and damage to the psyche. The violence of conquest is only at the surface of colonialism. The investment in the silencing, repression, and normalizing of the oppression has had lasting consequences and continues to be felt today. We are a product of colonialism and its legacy. We live in that reality, which garners our consensus as it normalizes the colonial reality. As colonized peoples, we are no longer the same. We cannot go back to the way things used to be. Instead, we face a harsh reality of dealing with the injury and damage of colonialism. For us Ilokanos, our traditional Ilokano knowledge, culture, language, and identity (although I recognize and assert that there is no authentic, pure, or essential Ilokano-ness) face serious damages incurred from colonial policies of control. One of the ways this was done was through the establishment of colonial education based on the repression and subordination of traditional and indigenous knowledges along with the perpetuation of lies of saving the Filipinos reinforced the injury of colonialism itself. This injury can be felt in the loss and endangerment of our languages. Colonialism and the nationalization project have already resulted in the death of four languages in the Philippines while many more are endangered. This is because we are taught to privilege and replace our mother tongue for Spanish or English, the language of the colonizer, or Tagalog, the language of the local elites. We also suffer the loss of our culture or we face severe and irreversible damages to our culture. The consequence of this is that we become less and less rooted in our community and become more of what dominant society wants us to be.
Local politics and local identity: resistance to "liberal democracy" in Yogyakarta special regions of Indonesia
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-08) Efendi, David
In a struggle to preserve traditional values and elite interests in Yogyakarta following the 1998 reforms, voluntary indigenous organizations (paguyuban) have used local ethnic identity and cultural resources to build legitimacy for their political positions and to mobilize participation in protests that support the privileged status of Yogyakarta Special Region. Cultural resources are themselves constructed, invented, contested, and politicized by communities to defend the "public interest" as they interpret it. In so doing, the Yogyanese engage in active, public resistance through paguyuban. Such groups reproduce existing cultural resources as part of a broader movement to oppose proposals for "democratization" or "liberal democracy" that have been raised by the central government. At the same time, however, a far larger portion of the population are not members of the any social movement organizations, this silent majority engages in everyday politics in their private lives in response to national, regional and local political dynamics. Based on data gathered through interviews, fieldwork and newspaper reports, this study finds that: (1) collective identity is produced and reproduced on the basis of local traditions, myths and values, leading to an active protest movement in the case of debates over the special political status of Yogyakarta; (2) the existence of indigenous groups contributes to shaping and reshaping such protest events; and (3) open politics and everyday politics, the latter of which has been neglected in previous research on Yogyakarta, are simultaneously active with regard to such political issues. This study shows that people react to local and national political dynamics in different ways, depending on whether their activities are in the public sphere or in their private lives. The reasons for such disconnections are diverse and include the impact of external mobilization, economic interests, social obligations, and reluctance to participate publicly, driven by the view that organized movements are meaningless due to the hegemony of the elite and due to attitudes of disillusionment with regard to democracy.
(Re)-discovering Okinawan indigeneity: articulation and activism
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-08) Chibana, Megumi
Okinawa broadly refers to a geographical island chain between Kyūshū (mainland Japan) and Taiwan, which is the southernmost and most recently added administrative region of Japan. Since 1996, people from Okinawa have started articulating their indigenous rights to self-determination under international law. In a small island in the Pacific, pressured by both Japanese and American foreign policies, homegrown Okinawan cultural, economic, and political development efforts have long been trivialized and even ignored outright. The recent wave of globalization helped galvanize a modern Okinawan self-identity in line with the global indigenous movement at large. I argue that the adoption of an indigenous framework to examine Okinawan political articulations and movements would both expand understanding of the place and people and mobilize Okinawans to secure a decolonized future. Using a peoplehood definition of "indigenous" that underpins the balanced and linked foundations of indigenous way of being, this thesis illustrates how Okinawans have politically and culturally demonstrated their indigeneity and how global indigenous movements could possibly help to rethink and discuss "domestic issues" that Okinawans have been struggling to solve.
The contentious roots of the 2011 Egyptian revolution
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-12) Badran, Sammy Zeyad
Although real socio-economic injustices may have been the justification for the Egyptian revolution of 2011, it was not the cause of Egypt's politicization. Demonstrators peacefully toppled a strong western ally on the premise of high unemployment, lack of opportunity, lack of free elections, food inflation, corruption, and lack of democracy, among others. Why did social mobilization lead to a social movement against a state that's highly dependent on coercion? How did politics make the shift from internal social relations to contentious street politics? Considering that access to social networks, high unemployment, systematic corruption, and economic stagnation are all commonplace throughout the world, the Egyptian revolution is an anomaly. This paper argues that an analysis of the possible roots of the modern era of contentious politics in Egypt and its subsequent politicization will help demystify and decipher how this anomaly occurred.
New media and the new(s) civil society: a multimethod approach to understanding China's growing online public sphere
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-05) O'Kelley, Michael Glenn
Since the beginning of reform and opening up, Chinese society has gone from periodic upheaval to relative stability under China's one-party system. Parallel to this development is the steady growth of civil society organizations and state institutions for political participation. Looking beyond traditional neo-Tocquevillian links between formal civil society and democracy, this thesis investigates the role of informal, digital society in building a public sphere. Research is focused on developing empirical approaches to understanding China's online communities. This thesis employs survey methods, analysis of publicized electronic communications and NGO data, extensive reading of political microblogs, and social network analysis to address the size and political tendencies of digital communities. Given the realities of censorship and legal reprisal, much political speech occurs through selected retransmission of news stories. Additionally, the social network analysis approach developed in this thesis is able to identify ill-defined online communities for further research.
Intergenerational effectuation of future-directed decisions: a proposition about spatio-temporal assumptions and novelty
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-12) Miller, Michael Francis
Our collective conception of the future is problematic. We face three fundamental problems concerning the future. One is grounded in its relationship to reality, another is grounded in obtaining knowledge of the future, and the last is grounded in the ability to affect the future. How can we assign reality to the future that does not exist? How can we gain knowledge of the future that does not exist? How can we affect the future that does not exist? These questions have led me down a path of inquiry that has questioned the some of the core assumptions concerning the subject of the future. This study is exploratory. I have come to reject the foundational assumptions upon which much of the general perception of the future is founded. Raphael van Riel, in his book, The Concept of Reduction (2014) states that, "The concept of reduction is supposed to reconcile diversity and directionality with unity, without relying on elimination" (van Riel 2014, 1). The concept of time is theoretically reducible to a diversity of its parts. The concept of time establishes directionality with respect to its parts. The parts are declared to be the past, present, and future. The process of reduction is deterministic in that it forces a line of thought--a pathway, upon anyone attempting to conceptualize the future. A temporal reductionist line of thought by the authority of its argument defines the future, provides a locus for the future, creates a unity between time and the future, and imbeds the whole phenomena within a spatio-temporal structural assumption of reality. In general, thinking about the future is based upon certain foundational structural assumptions are not satisfying. These assumptions are derived from socially constructed spatio-temporal structures and processes which have come to have a commanding influence on most futural conceptualizations, abstractions, thoughts and language. A major problem has evolved concerning how to approach the subject given these barriers. Traditional conceptions associated with motion, change, driving forces, trajectories, time and space, and space-time have become questionable. I have concluded that the idea of the future needs to be redefined in the context of an alternative theory and method of inquiry that is not based on spatio-temporal assumptions. A categorization of approaches to the future differentiates between theories and methods that are grounded in spatio-temporal assumptions and those that are not. The structure that is built upon spatio-temporal processes is rejected and an alternative structure is hypothesized. The alternative structure is presented based upon a theory of monadic motion and relations, and a different understanding of what constitutes the future. In this new context, the relationship of the future will be reevaluated in its relationship to reality, in relationship to knowledge about the future, and in the ability to affect the future. My proposition will then be reexamined in light of this alternative theory.
The biopolitics of "Internet addiction disorder"
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-12) Gordon, Brian Caldwell
The miscategorization of Internet usage as a consumable inebriate is discursively powerful because it generates uncertainty; it is unclear who is sick, how illness strikes, and how one can resist it. The dimensions and dangers of this effect are discussed in section II, which reviews instances of pathologization and treatment around the world. Section III suggests a reorientation of the human/Internet relation via Jane Bennett's ontology of Vital Materialism. Section IV draws on Lauren Berlant's concept of "slow death" to problematize the scholarship of Sherry Turkle and Jonathan Crary, two influential scholars in the digital humanities whose works, I argue, have the discursive effect of making the violent and aporetic aspects of IAD seem intractable, which depoliticizes instances of moralizing governmental intervention. In a recent interview with the Guardian, Turkle opined that while "online you become the self you want to be… [but we lose the] raw, human part" of being with each other. Despite the vagueness of such a statement, readers are made to feel that their "raw" human parts are under siege; this kind of rhetoric stirs anxiety about experiencing a loss because of the Internet, which could lead people to welcome government interventions in online and offline life in order to preserve our imperiled "rawness". Taken together, these clinical and scholarly discourses supply mainstream and social media with a body of literature big enough to get noticed, at which point governments, businesses, and various interested parties converge to exploit (in the name of "fixing") this new condition. This is the stage at which populations become anxious--an anxiety that I argue could be useful to neoliberal elites as a biopolitical instrument in the digital age. Thus it is imperative to engage this anxiety, to scrutinize its organization and logics, and propose an alternative metaphysical relation to the Internet that humbly contextualizes the human as one actant among many within an Internet assemblage. Instead of consuming the Internet, I propose something more like being the Internet. If this seems a like a starry-eyed paean from an Internet loving millennial, rest assured that I am disquieted by things like Google Glass, which evoke a vision of a future where we indiscriminately embrace novelty and become hyperconsumptive cyborgs. I am less interested in the dazzling potentialities of the Internet than I am in the politics of its miscategorization and medicalization in the present day. I think this kind of engagement serves in a small way to unsettle the inevitability of a future where humans are all woefully "addicted" to the technologies we create, warp-speed consumers living in (or escaping from) a hot, depleted, ruined world like Pixar's Wall-E. Theorizing the human/Internet relation as a dynamic and vibrant process of co-constitutive evolution is crucial to this investigation, but would overwhelm the goals of the project (and probably to author as well). Thus I turn to Jane Bennett's Vibrant Matter and Rosi Braidotti's The Posthuman for theoretical guidance, especially to articulate how Kantian subjectivity and the capitalist consumer ethic contribute to, and rely upon, the dispositif of Internet usage.
Silence in not always golden: investigating the silence surrounding the thought of Eric Voegelin
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008) Johnston, Patrick
The politicization of land and the paradox of indigenous ownership: the case of Fiji
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007) Rokolekutu, Ponipate R.
The institutional and legislative framework which governs the control and access of Fijian customary land has created and perpetuated a paradox of indigenous ownership of land. Despite owning eighty seven percent of Fiji's land, indigenous Fijians are still overwhelmingly represented at the lowest socio-economic scale in Fiji's modem economy. Such a paradox is camouflaged by a racial discourse invoked by the politicization of land by indigenous ruling elites. The current land discourse has evolved entirely around the issue of land rental payment. Leaders of both ethnic communities including academia have propagated the creation of a legislative and institutional land tenure framework that ensures fair tenancy for Indo Fijian tenants and equitable returns to indigenous Fijian landowners. The study contends that such a discourse reproduces the economic passiveness of indigenous Fijian landowners and their dependency on land rental payment. As such the study propagates an alternative land discourse which involves the incorporation and integration of indigenous Fijian landowners in the commercial cultivation of their land whether in sugarcane farming or other forms of commercial agriculture.
A futures studies approach to Japan's futures
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007) Murata, Takuya
This thesis is explores Japan's futures that are alternative to today's dominant future. The official future espoused by Prime Minister Abe is losing popularity quickly. There is a real possibility for other futures beneath the surface to become important. Unlike the stable det1ation of the 1990s, starting around 2003 Japan entered another era of rapid change that is difficult to grasp through extrapolating trends. Open futures-thinking is particularly important in this context. Today's thinking about Japan's futures works in a narrow space, working with futures that are only a little different from each other. For example, Keidanren provides forecasts that are considered very optimistic, which is 2% GDP growth. In contrast, Deutsche Bank Research's forecasts are pessimistic. They project 0% growth. Japanese leaders, organizations, and citizens need to take a much wider range of possible futures into account, because those futures are also very real and very possible.
Islam, civil society and democratization: the case of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama in post-Suharto Indonesia
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008) Tanthowi, Pramono Ubaid

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