Ph.D. - History

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/26747

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Localizing Islamic orthodoxy in northern coastal Java in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: a study of Pegon Islamic texts
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-08) Umam, Saiful
This dissertation examines the localization of Islam in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the northern coastal areas of Java, Indonesia. It focuses on a unique type of Islamic texts, Kitab Pegon, which are books on Islam in the Javanese language using Arabic script. Written by local ulama (religious scholars), Pegon books discuss various branches of Islamic knowledge. Their intended audience is commoners, and therefore they were composed in the vernacular language employing the lower stratified Javanese, ngoko. An assessment on this type of sources reveals that despite their adoption of local cultures and ideas, their contents conformed to Sunni orthodox teachings. Muhammad Salih Darat (1820-1903 CE) paved the way for the popularity of Pegon Islamic texts in Java. Differentiating between the universality of Islam and locality of Arabic, Salih defended the authority of Pegon books and argued that they provided no less significant role than Arabic ones in advancing Islamic knowledge among Muslims. Based on this argument, Salih employed Javanese terms and concepts for explaining Islamic tenets in order to make them more intelligible among commoners. This practice has been followed by many Javanese ulama in the twentieth century. The introduction of Pegon Islamic texts and their availability in great quantity due to the adoption of print technology have contributed significantly to the increasing Islamic orthodoxy among the Javanese people. Having learned to read the Qur'an at an early age, the Javanese were usually familiar with the Arabic script, which greatly facilitated their ability to read Pegon texts. The Pegon texts also proved useful for local ulama who continue to teach Islamic knowledge to ordinary adults at prayer houses and mosques. Contrary to the widely-held belief that Javanese Islam was syncretic and heavily influenced by pre-Islamic ideas, this dissertation argues that orthodox ideas had been present since the sixteenth century and became increasingly prominent since the nineteenth century as a result of the publication of Islamic texts in Pegon. This dissertation hopefully contributes to debates on the localization of world religions, by providing a case study in which orthodoxy was clearly maintained within a process of localization.
Khalwatiah Sammān: a popular Sufi Islamic movement in South Sulawesi, Indonesia (1820s-1998)
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-08) Ubaedillah, Achmad
This dissertation examines the Khalwatiah Sammān Sufi brotherhood (tarekat) in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and attempts to explain the reason for its continuing success since its origins in the first half of the nineteenth century. A major reason, I contend, is the very close relationship that is maintained between its leaders (Shaikh, Murshīd, Khalīfah) and its followers (sanakmangaji) through the legitimization of the authority of the former via Islamic spiritual ideas (taṣawwuf). The emergence of this tarekat was the result of the confluence in the nineteenth century of two important developments: the expansion of European colonialism in Muslim lands around the world, and the rise of the puritanical Wahabi movement centered in the heartland of Islam. The links between the Islamic heartland and the Malay-Indonesian archipelago grew stronger in this period, as religious discourses, particularly Sufism, became increasingly influential in the ummah, or community of believers, "below the winds." The Khalwatiah Sammān tarekat in South Sulawesi appealed far more to the commoners than the elite. Its eclectic religious perspective, though opposed by the orthodox modernist and traditional streams of Islam, was in fact a reason for its attraction among the ordinary people. One of its appeals is the practice of reciting the zikir (dzikr al-Jahri) as a congregation, rather than performing a private silent zikir as is done by other tarekats. Challenged by the two Islamic mainstreams--global Wahabism and local orthodoxy--the Khalawatiah Sammān responded by creating a tarekat that succeeded in demonstrating its legitimacy and orthodoxy through its scholarly leaders and their links to important Islamic teachers in Mecca and Medina, the Ḥaramayn. One of the major conclusions of this study is that Islam is not monolithic, and that groups such as the Khalwatiah Sammān demonstrate the dynamism of Islam in all its different cultural manifestations.
Grafting justice: crime and the politics of punishment in Korea, 1875-1938
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-12) Sprunger, Michael Lorin
This dissertation examines changing forms, functions, and meanings of punishment in Korea from the late nineteenth century through the late 1930s. In particular, it seeks to understand how various and often competing political and economic interests, conceptions of crime and proper punishment, and penal technologies and practices interacted in Korea to shape the emergence of a system of confinement-based punishment. While this process coincided with and was clearly affected by Korea's colonization by Japan, it is argued that punishment in Korea during these years should not be reduced to the simple function of political instrumentality, but can better be understood as a complex social institution. The various forms, functions, and meanings it displayed over time can only be understood in light of the complex and contradictory forces shaping them. Specifically, this study examines the process by which penal authority in Korea was gradually usurped by the Japanese and subsequently contributed to Korea's formal colonization; how Japanese claims to a penal civilizing mission were constructed, contested, and qualified; how principles of rehabilitative punishment were put into practice and affected by new theories of criminality; and the ways in which colonial punishment was experienced, contested, and negotiated at the human level in colonial Korea.
A malu i fale, 'e malu fo'i i fafo Samoan women and power: towards an historiography of changes and continuities in power relations in le nu'u o teine of sāoluafata 1350-1998 C.E.
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-08) Simanu-Klutz, Manumaua Luafata
Samoa's women have been studied in specific albeit rare moments in time by anthropologists in the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, but never as historical agents of a society which they have helped shape and sustain in a variety of ways for hundreds of years. This dissertation is an attempt to fill that void by examining the power of the Samoan woman--her pule, authority, mālosi, economic strength, and mamalu, social power--through the story of a unique political entity identified here as the Nu'u o Teine of Sāoluafata, the governing council of women in one of my ancestral villages on the northeastern side of the island of 'Upolu. This dissertation is concerned with a genealogy of the origins of the chiefly titles in both the Nu'u o Teine and Nu'u o Ali'i, the council of (male) chiefs. It traces the evolution of the teine's power since its founding in the mid-1300s through more contemporary times, and identifies the historical benefits and challenges of being both feagaiga, in sacred covenant with their brothers, and as suli, heirs to chiefly titles and lands. The rediscovery of this power is particularly critical at a time when globalization and international initiatives promoting women and human rights are affecting personal and cultural identities, as well as local customs and traditions. In this manner, the Nu'u o Teine of Sāoluafata serves as an analytical tool with which to view the changes and continuities in the Samoan women's sources and mechanisms of power. Specifically, questions on how these sources and tools of power have been utilized, subjugated, colonized, or manipulated are examined as the teine mediated their way through three distinct periods of time--the Vavau, Samoa's past before Western contact (1300s-1700s), Faigafa'apapalagi (1722-1962), the ways of the white people, and Faigafa'aonaponei 1962-1998), the ways of today. Though unique in its political beginnings and structure, the Nu'u o Teine is a tool with which to historicize the political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions of the feagaiga, and the shift by degree from a relationship of complimentarity to one of symmetry as Samoan women reassert their rights to lands and titles which they had historically deferred to their brothers. Given the scarcity of archival and secondary sources on Sāoluafata's past in particular and Samoan women's history in general, this study relies on oral traditions and the ethnologies of nineteenth century government officials. Moreover, in line with David Hanlon's suggestions of what Pacific islands history might look like, this study has made a conscious effort to view the past through the eyes of the current members of the Nu'u o Teine, and through a critical examination of what Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi deems as "indigenous references." This study is a su'ifefiloi, a medley, of versions made possible by a triangulation of oral, archival, and ethnographic texts and contexts.
The shadow only be their portion': gendered colonial spaces in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1840-1855
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Cozens, Erin Ford
The two primary goals of this work are to unpack the myriad ways that gender was an integral component of the construction of colonial spaces within New Zealand, and to demonstrate the ways in which a range of historical actors transgressed those spaces. In doing so it advocates for the centrality of gender within colonial processes in New Zealand while at the same time highlighting the need for more nuanced examinations of the exceedingly gendered nature of encounters between Pacific Islanders and colonizers throughout Oceania.
Kustumbre, modernity and resistance the subaltern narrative in Chamorro language music
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-12) Clement, Michael Richard
This dissertation traces the history of Chamorro music from pre-colonial accounts of Chamorro songs, through the peak years of the recording era in the last three decades of the twentieth century. The revival of Chamorro music traditions in post-war Guam is demonstrated to be a significant cultural movement that has largely gone unnoticed by scholars in fields that deal with issues of history, culture, colonialism and music. The focus of this study is the life stories of singers and songwriters who were born during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and grew up amidst the radical post-World War II transformation of the American Territory of Guam. They were also the first generations of Chamorros to live all or most of their lives as American citizens. Through the utilization of oral histories and songs as primary sources, this dissertation brings to light perspectives that have generally been left out of most studies of Guam's past, which have focused on written source material and the actions of political leaders. In doing so, this dissertation brings attention to a subaltern narrative in Guam history, which demonstrates that non-elite Chamorros have played an under-recognized role in perpetuating indigenous continuities in Chamorro language and culture. This dissertation also addresses common perceptions that Chamorro songs are inauthentic because of the heavy adaption of western styles. This adaptive approach to western influences is shown to be a continuation of long established strategies of resistance to colonial hegemony that is consistent with the syncretic cultural system known as kustumbren Chamorro.
Poverty management and urban governance in modern Osaka, 1871-1944
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-12) Porter, John Patrick
This dissertation examines the relationship between urban poverty and local governance in modern Osaka. It seeks to elucidate the strategies and institutional mechanisms through which the authorities in Osaka attempted to regulate the urban poor from the immediate aftermath of the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. It begins by examining the dissolution of early modern Osaka's beggar fraternity, the kaito nakama, and considering the impact of the Restoration and subsequent dismantling of the early modern status system on the practice of poverty management and the lives of the urban poor. Following the Restoration, the mechanisms through which the authorities in Osaka attempted to regulate the poor underwent a dramatic transformation. For centuries, the authorities had permitted thousands of the city's poorest residents to survive by gathering alms. However, in the early 1870s, officials came to view begging as a deleterious practice that encouraged idleness and dependence and stripped otherwise able-bodied individuals of their desire for self-sufficiency. Some asserted that if the practice were allowed to persist, it would ultimately undermine the vitality and stability of the fledgling Meiji state. In order for Japan to compete with the comparatively affluent states of the West, officials came to believe that it was necessary to mobilize the entire populous, including the members of economically disadvantaged groups previously permitted to subsist on the margins of the urban economy. Accordingly, officials began working to transform the poor into productive urban subjects capable of subsisting without external assistance. This dissertation challenges foregoing studies of urban poverty in modern Japan, which emphasize only the coercive and exclusionary features of state policy towards the poor. While moments of repression and exclusion are certainly a vital part of the story, an analysis of poverty management efforts in Osaka reveals that official policy was designed primarily to harness, multiply, and exploit the productive capacities of the poor. Far from seeking their permanent exclusion from mainstream society, the authorities worked to encourage their sustained inclusion into the lower tiers of the urban socio-economic hierarchy through the hygienic remaking of their communities and the reform of their beliefs and practices.
Fleecing the science of love: William Proxmire, Elaine Hatfield, and the politics of gender in the 1970s
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-12) Martin, Richard John
In March 1975, Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire awarded his first Golden Fleece Award to Elaine Hatfield and Ellen Berscheid because the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded them $84,000 to study love research. Carried on monthly for fifteen straight years, the Golden Fleece Award became synonymous with government waste, amusing scientific research, and outlandish public works projects. The Golden Fleece Award impacted how the NSF reviewed projects, allocated funding, and publicized research. Chapter one provides a historiographical review of the 1970s and focuses on social tensions, especially those between men and women. Largely the product of activism by the women's movement, issues previously limited to the personal sphere such as reproductive agency, domestic violence, and a lack of educational and employment opportunities for women became part of the mainstream political discussion. Biographical accounts of William Proxmire and Elaine Hatfield from primary sources comprise chapters two and three. The final two chapters look at four daily newspapers, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Capital Times (Madison, WI), and the Chicago Tribune, in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the daily news coverage of the mid-1970s. These close readings address how issues about relationships between men and women were a constant feature and informed the public debate surrounding the first Golden Fleece Award. The overarching argument of this work is that the dramatic economic, political, and social changes of the 1970s were regularly interpreted through the lens of men and women's relationships. Disputes between men and women--personal and professional--were a constant theme of newspaper coverage in the mid-1970s. There was a palpable tension between men and women's public, private, and political relationships that informed how news was selected and presented to the public. This dynamic informed the cultural debate over the first Golden Fleece Award. The conclusion addresses the long-term impact of the Golden Fleece Award on the careers of Elaine Hatfield and William Proxmire and discusses public funding of scientific research.
Illustrated America: freedom of expression and the democratization of tattoos in contemporary American culture
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-08) Kang, Sung Pil
This dissertation examines the evolving democratization of tattooing and the shifting significance of tattoos in an analysis from the 1950s to the current era. Unlike previous scholarship, this study also links the democratization of tattoos to the continuous struggle over the body against state institutions--not just limiting it to the 1960s counter-culture. Often absent in other studies concerning the popularization and eventual commodification of tattoos is the "hip-hop element"; I argue that marking the skin was a logical extension of drawing attention to an "invisible generation" experiencing economic neglect and the impact from the "War on Drugs," "War on Gangs," and "War on Youths" in the 1980s. Rapper Tupac Shakur contributed to the growth and contraction of marking the body, and this is symptomatic of the discursive dialectic between the tolerance for and the backlash against civil rights in recent America history. The context of my investigation is specifically American, as I argue that decades of tattooing practices have rendered tattoos peculiarly evocative signifiers of diverse American identities. After the 1950s, marking the skin became part of the discourse over civil liberties regarding the body. My study centers on women, gays and lesbians, blacks, the military, and entertainers or professional athletes. Individuals within these groups have been among the most ardent practitioners of tattooing and among the most visible recipients of tattoos; not coincidentally, these groups have also been among the most marginalized or celebrated of Americans, often voluntarily distancing themselves from the larger American society through their commercialized tattoos and their defiantly political uses of their bodies. The primary thrust of this discussion is to identify how various groups have used tattooing to assert their self-determination or civic identities publicly, and to define themselves by writing on their bodies.
Monstrous projections and paradisal visions: Japanese conceptualizations of the south seas (nan'yō) as a supernatural space from ancient times to the contemporary period
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-08) Ombrello, Mark Alan
From Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels to the giant monster movie Mothra, the South Seas has served as conceptual space filled with supernatural potential in Western and Japanese discourse. This dissertation will examine Japanese discourse that appropriated the South Seas (Nan'yō) in that capacity with relation to historical developments and Japanese identity formation from ancient times to the present. Not only does this vast space have a long tradition associated with fantastic beings, but it also resembles traditional Japanese ghosts and other fantastic phenomena in composition and character. Drawing from methodologies and concepts integrated in the field of ghost studies (yōkaigaku), this study will survey continuities and shifts in ways Japanese came to comprehend the space as a physical and conceptual entity. Through this investigation, issues concerning the formation of a worldview, the "Othering" of Pacific peoples, and the development of Japanese modernity will be revealed, offering insight into the transformation of modes of thought and cultural production vis-à-vis direct and vicarious engagement with the oceans and Islanders south of Japan in real and imaginary contexts
Making the first global trade route: the southeast Asian foundations of the Acapulco-Manila galleon trade, 1519-1650
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-08) Peterson, Andrew Christian
This study examines the means by which the Acapulco-Manila galleon trade was established and maintained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Conducting annual voyages between the ports of Acapulco in New Spain and Manila in the Philippines required a tremendous amount of supporting infrastructure, namely labor and an ample supply of timber and other shipbuilding materials. Previous studies of the galleon trade have overwhelmingly focused on the commercial aspects of the trade while foregoing any consideration of the logistical challenges of sailing across the world's largest ocean in the early modern era. It is the conclusion of this study that while the merchants and trade goods of East Asia were crucial to the trans-Pacific trade, the galleons themselves were built and maintained within the Philippines, using locally sourced building materials and laborers, as well as the skill of indigenous craftsmen and seafarers. It was not just Spaniards and Chinese traders coming together to trade at Manila, but also many thousands of Indio laborers working to support the trade as well. The vast array of necessary human and environmental resources that was readily available in the Philippines will be shown to have been a part of a thriving Southeast Asian maritime seafaring community, the foundations of which came to form the supporting structure of Spain's trans-Pacific endeavors. This dissertation revisits the creation of the Acapulco-Manila galleon trade with consideration given to the Indios of the Philippines, the resources of greater Southeast Asia, and the global context in which the trade developed
The rules of heart: Nakayama Shimpei's popular songs in the history of Modern Japan
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-12) Patterson, Patrick Marc
Composer Nakayama Shimpei (1887-1952) wrote more than 300 popular songs in his lifetime. Most are still well known and recorded regularly. An entrepreneur, he found ways to create popular songs that powered Japan's nascent recording industry in the 1920s and 1930s. An artist, his combination of Japanese and Western musical styles and tropes appealed to Japanese sentiments in a way that not only reflected the historical and social context, but anticipated and explained those historical changes to his listeners. This dissertation seeks to use a method suggested by Pierre Bourdieu to analyze the social context of Nakayama's work. The analytical model is didactic, seeking to compare the outcomes suggested by Bourdieu's theory and modern analysis of popular music to the events that occurred in the context of Japan's development of a record industry and popular music market between 1887 and 1952. The dissertation evaluates Nakayama's positions within the Field of Musical Production and the Field of Power and compares that history to the field theory of Bourdieu. The dissertation concludes that Bourdieu's ideas provide an excellent framework for analysis of the social and economic meaning of popular songs, but that reality in Japan was more complex than the theoretical construction. Bourdieu built artistic capital in a society in which music was changing rapidly and Western music held a cachet, whether classical or popular. Nakayama's uncanny ability to make listening to Western music a comfortable experience for Japanese by adding elements from Japanese musical styles allowed him to be successful financially, and to hold respect within the artistic community as well. The ultimate goal of the dissertation is to show how popular songs can be utilized as primary sources to help deepen our understanding of historical contexts.
Beyond the baselines: baseball in the Hawaiian islands as a transnational sport, 1840-1945
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-12) Johnson, Michael Francis
This study traces the historical development of baseball in the Hawaiian Islands as a transnational sport that, between 1840 and 1945, reflected several world historical processes. These processes include cultural exchange and diffusion, identity formation, imperialism, and migrations. As the position of the Hawaiian Islands shifted within a global context during this time period, so too did the development of baseball change course. While recognizing the important role of the United States in the growth of baseball abroad, the world-historical approach of this dissertation focuses on a range of other influences and discusses how the development of baseball is linked to the ways transnational forces were negotiated within local conditions in the Hawaiian Islands. To that end, this study utilizes extensive newspaper research, including Hawaiian-language sources, to frame the sport's growth within a context of larger influences operating on and within the islands. In doing so, it highlights the involvement of non-American actors and groups who are often elided or obscured by narratives that emphasize the role of the United States in baseball's development. By considering transnational and world-historical processes, this study frames the history of baseball in the Hawaiian Islands in a global context rather than solely an American context and offers comparisons to baseball's growth elsewhere in the world. In doing so, this study shows not only the value of sports to the study of world history, but the value of a world-historical perspective to the study of sports. And finally, by providing an in-depth survey of baseball in the Hawaiian Islands, this study adds nuance to the understandings of social interactions in the islands between 1840 and 1945.
Japan And The Trans-siberian Railroad, 1885-1905
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-03-30) Valliant, Robert Britton
Suspected criminals, spies, and "human secret weapons": The evolution of Japanese-American representations in political and cultural discourse from Hawai‘i to Japan, 1880-1950s
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008) Nakamura, Kelli Y.
This dissertation explores issues of race, class, criminality, and ethnic identity in the Japanese community in Hawai'i from the arrival of the first Japanese migrants in 1886 through World War II and its immediate aftermath. It traces the development of anti-Japanese sentiment in Hawai'i, which culminated in the institution of martial law, the internment of nearly 1,500 individuals in Hawai'i, and the forced repatriation to Japan of certain allegedly disloyal members of the Japanese community during World War II. This study investigates the growing fears of the Japanese due to the large number of Japanese in the islands, due to Japan's militaristic activities in the Pacific, and due to the perceived threat posed by Hawai'i's Japanese in the event of war. This dissertation specifically focuses on a series of crimes that reflected ethnic fears among white elites in the islands and among American military officials concerning Hawai'i's Japanese population: the 1889 lynching of Katsu Goto, the bombing of Juzaburo Sakamaki's home in 1920, the 1928 Jamieson murder, and the 1932 Massie rape. The two largest labor strikes in Hawai'i in 1909 and 1920 likewise involving Japanese intensified white fears and illustrated the precarious economic position occupied by white planters who depended on Japanese labor. The white power structure that dominated local politics and the American military establishment in Hawai'i shared similar interests and aligned in order to control the Japanese in the islands, first through a dual-system of justice that privileged whites at the expense of ethnic minorities and later through the full-scale institution of martial law during the war. This analysis relies in many respects on close-readings of Hawai'i's major newspapers in order to assess the media's role in the construction of a contested Japanese identity and in the establishment of an official narrative of Japanese criminality, disloyalty, and threat. Whites and Japanese frequently clashed over issues of race and power, and the divide between rulers and ruled was often contested and never clearly defined. The period prior to World War II was marked by strife and tension between these groups, culminating in martial law, internment, and ultimately repatriation.
Travel, science, and empire: The Russian Geographical Society's expeditions to Central Eurasia, 1845-1905
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008) Bailey, Scott C. Matsushita
This dissertation examines the employment of ethnographic, geographic, and natural-scientific expeditions by the Russian Geographical Society and the Russian Imperial government during the second half of the nineteenth century. The expeditions and the expeditionary leaders under discussion were sent to the Central Eurasian region for a number of reasons, including the gaining of samopoznanie (self-knowledge) of lands and peoples already under imperial control, but more often to gather information on lands and peoples beyond Russian borders. These expeditions collected samples of flora and fauna, mapped the territory, made ethnographic observations, and provided other information of use for future settlement or colonization. The expeditionary leaders also left research reports about their journeys, which are analyzed and summarized in this dissertation. The individuals who led these expeditions became important instigators of the further eastward colonization of the region by shifting the research focus of the institution beyond Russian Turkestan (during the 1850s and 1860s) to research in China, Tibet, and Eastern Turkestan (from the 1870s until the end of the century). The traveling expeditions and the expeditionary leaders themselves are analyzed comparatively and placed into the wider global and national historical contexts. This work also identifies a shift in the language of these travel accounts as the century progressed, moving from the relatively-benign documentation of flora and fauna during the earlier period to more overtly strategic and even jingoistic reports by the end of the century. The individual identities of scholar-travelers are also investigated, with some analysis of the process of creating the Russian or Russian Geographical Society scholar-traveler. After an introductory chapter, chapter 2 provides an overview of the Russian Geographical Society's organizational history and how they became involved in Central Eurasian exploration. Chapters 3 through 6 provide discussions of individual scholar-travelers and their main research expeditions to Central Eurasia, with analysis of their findings in the context of ongoing Russian colonial and imperial projects in the region. Chapter 7 provides some comparative context and suggestions for possible points of future comparison.
The Specter of Communism in Hawaii, 1947-53
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1975) Holmes, Thomas Michael
Institutional developments in Korea under the Chʻoe House, 1196-1258
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1976) Shultz, Edward John
Shimazu Shigehide, 1745-1833: a case study of daimyo leadership
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1975) Matsui, Masato
An unbroken witness: conscientious objection to war, 1948-1953
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1975) Larson, Zelle Andrews

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