Beyond the baselines : baseball in the Hawaiian islands as a transnational sport, 1840-1945

Abstract

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.