April 18–24 marks National Crime Victims鈥� Rights Week, an annual commemoration that promotes victims’ rights and services. It鈥檚 an issue alumnus Nicholas Iwamoto strongly supports after surviving a vicious random attack while hiking Koko Crater.

In 2009, Iwamoto was brutally stabbed more than a dozen times and thrown 100-feet from a cliff. The bone-shattering fall left him with a broken neck, fractured skull and collapsed lungs. His attacker was committed to Hawaiʻi State Hospital.

This was a watershed moment for me because I learned the power of my voice
—Nicholas Iwamoto

But in 2016, utter shock crept back into Iwamoto鈥檚 life—he had learned his assailant would be released, which propelled him to fight to protect violent crime victims. He prepared a fiery message to take all the way to the State Capitol.

“I gave them all the gory details. This was a watershed moment for me because I learned the power of my voice,” he explained. “My experience with trauma and my refusal to stay quiet mean I am in a unique position to reach those who are hurting.”

Pushing through pain

Pain is something Iwamoto knows all too well. Physical and emotional wounds sustained from the gruesome stabbing proved too difficult. Drugs prescribed to ease his discomfort manifested into a crippling addiction.

“I lost so much time. I realized in 2015 that if I was ever going to live my second life to the fullest, I would have to get clean. I was the only one who could get myself out of this hole. I consider my sobriety and my survival to be my greatest achievements.”

In fall 2020, Iwamoto celebrated yet another accolade, the 35-year-old graduated with honors from 东精影业 Hilo earning a BA in European History. For him, school became a desperately-needed sanctuary.

“My time at 东精影业 was an integral part of my reintegration to the world after many years of reclusion. Going back to school has made me realize the power of my imagination…I want to take my education as far as my mind and body will allow.”

Story of survival featured in Wailau

I want the audience to know that hope can be found in the most hopeless situations. I want them to find a strength within they never knew existed.

Iwamoto is getting ready to share his harrowing story of survival on 东精影业 Hilo鈥檚 new virtual storytelling program, . The free monthly event was created to empower the community through personal stories. Iwamoto will headline April鈥檚 episode, A Just World, on Saturday, April 24 at 2 p.m.

“I want the audience to know that hope can be found in the most hopeless situations. I want them to find a strength within they never knew existed. More than anything, I want them to know they鈥檙e not alone.”

Iwamoto has his eyes set on writing a book about his unexpected journey.

How abundant Native Hawaiian communities laid a foundation in the fight against climate change is the focus of a new book by a University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 professor.

In Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future: Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies in Hawaiʻi, Associate Professor Candace Fujikane draws upon moʻolelo (storied histories) involving lands and waters to look at the ways that Kanaka Maoli k奴puna (ancestors) approached climate change events. The book focuses on community struggles over lands and waters and restoration projects in four areas: Waiʻanae, Mauna a W膩kea, Kalihi and Wai膩hole.

Mapping Abundance offers a hopeful view of our planetary future. The book challenges the assumption that we have passed an apocalyptic point of no return. As Fujikane argues, just as a harmful event has exponentially devastating effects, a restorative action catalyzes far-reaching and unexpected forms of revitalization.

with a 30% discount using the code: E21FJKNE.

Motivations behind the book

Fujikane began writing this book thinking about the ways that Kanaka Maoli k奴puna preserved ʻike kupuna (ancestral knowledge) in moʻolelo. She uses the example of Keaomelemele, which describes the migration of the moʻo or reptilian water deities from their home islands in the clouds to Oʻahu. Thousands of moʻo marched from Waialua to Kap奴kak墨 or Red Hill. Fujikane saw that the story was about the ways that k奴puna mapped lands and how the mapping passed on to their descendants the knowledge about elemental laws that protect water.

“As I was thinking about this story, I was also involved in different community struggles to protect lands and waters in Hawaiʻi,” Fujikane said. “I began to see the ways that developers would try to cordon off smaller and smaller pieces of land in order to argue that the lands they wanted to develop are no longer agriculturally productive or culturally significant. As I was giving testimony at land use hearings, I realized that we needed to get outside of a western, Americanized perspective of land to recognize that Kanaka Maoli valued the integrity of land and the ways that land forms are related to each other.”

Extensive research

Fujikane performed a wide range of research to produce the book, including talking with Kanaka Maoli scholars, activists, artists and cultural practitioners; attending community events and court cases; reading different translations in Hawaiian language newspapers; spending time on Mauna a W膩kea; analyzing maps; and taking six years of ʻ艒濒别濒辞 Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language).

“Research for me is relational because it is about growing relationships with people and growing aloha ʻ腻颈苍补 for places because you love the people of a place and realize that the akua (elemental forms) are their ancestors,” Fujikane said.

This work is an example of 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 goals of (PDF), (PDF) and (PDF), three of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

Giving back to the community is at the core of the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 and its generosity was on full display in March 2021. With many school band programs unable to meet in person for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 东精影业 Bands organized the first-ever Hawaiʻi high school virtual honor band, which released two video performances. Approximately 50 students representing 24 different high schools on four islands were selected to participate in the online event.

Students received instrumental lessons with 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 faculty, met and worked with guest composers, and talked with Hawaiʻi鈥檚 own singer/songwriter/musician Raiatea Helm about her career in music and the meaning behind the mele (song) Kaulana N膩 Pua, which she performed with the students. They then individually recorded their own parts, which were assembled into video performances.

东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 Director of Bands Jeffrey Boeckman saw this as a chance for young musicians from across the islands isolated due to the pandemic, to come together and make meaningful music.

“It has been a long time for all of us away from each other,” Boeckman said. “From the connection that making music together can bring, we were eager to provide a meaningful musical activity. We are so fortunate to bring these young musicians together with an artist like Raiatea.”

The 东精影业 Bands acknowledged the for its support of the project.

View the band鈥檚 performances:

This effort is an example of 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 goals of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

The is among the world鈥檚 best for academic and research excellence across numerous subject areas, according to the released on March 3. These rankings are examples of 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 goals of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

After being ranked No. 62 nationally and No. 333 out of more than 26,000 colleges and universities worldwide (or the top 2%) in QS鈥檚 latest World University Rankings released in June 2020, 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 was ranked in the top 50 in the world in four narrow subject areas: geology (No. 24 worldwide, No. 15 U.S.), geophysics (No. 26 worldwide, No. 16 U.S.), linguistics (No. 28 worldwide, No. 11 U.S.) and earth and marine sciences (No. 34 worldwide, No. 18 U.S.).

东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 also received the following broad subject area rankings:

• Arts and Humanities: No. 172 worldwide, No. 43 U.S.
• : No. 203 worldwide, No. 49 U.S.
• and : No. 401–450 range worldwide, No. 78 U.S.
• and : No. 401–450 range worldwide, No. 113 U.S.

United Kingdom-based QS is considered one of the most prestigious ranking entities in higher education. QS selected 1,453 institutions to evaluate out of more than 26,000 colleges and universities for its 2021 World University Rankings by Subject using four factors: academic and employer reputation, number of research citations per paper and the h-index, which measures the productivity and impact of published work.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the contribution of a world-class university to a brighter future for Hawaiʻi. The QS rankings affirm 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 resilience and commitment to excellence in a wide range of disciplines,” 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 Provost Michael Bruno said. “The world is undergoing dramatic and in many ways permanent change as a result of the pandemic, and I believe that our graduates will be among those helping to shape it for the better thanks to the strong education our world-class faculty provide.”

Other rankings

东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 has also received these notable rankings:

• Elite international rankings in 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject
• High national ranking in U.S. News and World Report 2021 Best Colleges rankings
• 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 in top 1% of worldwide universities by the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings

For a full list of QS subject rankings and for more information, .

—By Marc Arakaki

Academy Award-winning French director, screenwriter and producer Michel Gondry鈥檚 use of music and sounds is spotlighted in a new book by a professor. Professor Kate McQuiston explores Gondry鈥檚 work, including Oscar-winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep, and other music videos, commercials and documentaries.

“Michel Gondry provided an intriguing case as a director who began his work in music videos—a genre predicated on music—and grew into feature films and commercials,” McQuiston said. “I wanted to find out how his musical starting point manifested across these genres, and what it revealed about the ways we watch and listen to them.”

McQuiston鈥檚 book features case studies that track Gondry’s sonic and musical treatment of recurring dramatic themes, which often involve the psychological and emotional experiences of the characters. It also reveals how Gondry uses his work as a way to advocate for music as a participatory and democratic activity, from promoting the musical artists he admires (particularly in jazz and hip hop) to appearing as a musician himself in promotional events connected to his work, including writing an original pop song for his most recent feature film, Microbe et Gasoil.

“I discovered that some of the most compelling effects in Gondry’s work come from the input of orchestrators or other creative personnel, prompting me to call Gondry not an ‘auteur’ but a ‘collaborateur,’” McQuiston said. “His deference to musicians and musical characters in his films is a notable feature of his work.”

Music and Sound in the Worlds of Michel Gondry is .

Award-winning poet, writer, editor and filmmaker Allison Adelle Hedge Coke will premiere the film of her keynote address as the spring 2020 at the . Hedge Coke will present a keynote lecture via Zoom on Making Our Measure, Our Motion in Life, on Wednesday, December 16, 4–5:30 p.m.

Hedge Coke will reflect on the past year through poetry, prose and guest commentaries. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, Hedge Coke鈥檚 planned keynote address in the spring was postponed. In lieu of an in-person event, a film was commissioned to capture the poetry and prose of Hedge Coke. Hedge Coke鈥檚 presentation also includes the community voices of Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Hawaiian visual artist Meleanna Meyer, and 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 Indigenous poets Craig Santos Perez and Brandy N膩lani McDougall.

Hedge Coke spent the spring semester at 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补, co-teaching the course “Indigenous Lands and Waters” with American Studies Associate Professor McDougall, in addition to giving lectures, workshops and readings.

McDougall said, “We were very honored to host Allison Hedge Coke, who is among the most important environmental and social justice poets, thinkers and activists of our time. Her literary contributions of poetry and other writings and documentary filmmaking over the past 25 years, as well as her work to create spaces for marginalized voices and to protect plants, animals, and sacred sites, have been tremendous both in scope and impact.”

Following the film premiere, a live discussion will take place with Hedge Coke, facilitated by McDougall and American Studies Assistant Specialist Noelle Kahanu.

. For more information, contact Kahanu at nmkahanu@hawaii.edu.

More on Hedge Coke

A distinguished professor at the University of California at Riverside, Hedge Coke is of Indigenous and European descent, and many of her writings powerfully explore her heritage and coming of age working in fields, factories and waters.

Her works include the poetry books Year of the Rat (1993, 1996), Dog Road Woman (1997), Off-Season City Pipe (2005), Blood Run (2007), Streaming (2014), Burn (2017), a memoir, Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer (2014), an animated poem, and a play, Icicles. As an editor, her works include Ahani: ToTopos (2006), Sing: Poetry of the Indigenous Americas (2011), Effigies (2009), Effigies II (2014), Effigies III (2019), and she most recently guest-edited World Literature Today (Autumn 2019).

Recent honors include an honorary credential from China for Excellence in Foreign Poetry, the First Jade Nurtured SiHui Female International Poet (2018), a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Native Writers Circle of the Americas (2017), the Library of Congress Witter Bynner Fellow (2016), and Distinguished Writer in Residence at 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 (2014). Current projects include a film, Red Dust: resiliency in the dirty thirties, a new CD, a VA NCA Legacy Program sponsored community project Along the Chaparral, new poems and prose.

Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals

Established in 2005 by the 东精影业 Board of Regents, the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals brings significant public figures to Hawaiʻi to foster public discourse regarding democratic ideals and civic engagement. The program honors the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and his wife, Maggie, for their lifetimes of public service. The chair is housed in the 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 Department of American Studies in the College of Arts and Humanities and the William S. Richardson School of Law.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not stopping a project aiming to save 40 years of environmental history in Hawaiʻi.

The Environmental Center at the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 was established in 1970 and generated a large collection of historical material on land use, conservation, economic development and ecological change in the state. Many of the documents are one-of-a-kind and exist only in hardcopy. They include drawings from Honolulu’s Rapid Transit Project from 1971 and a variety of environmental impact statements (EISs). The center closed in 2013 and the collection was left untouched.

In 2018, Associate Professor Kieko Matteson from 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 , and Scott Glenn, then-director of the State Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC), kickstarted an effort to digitize the documents and make them publicly available. Sara Bolduc, a PhD graduate from 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 and former Environmental Center employee, also joined in the effort.

“There are essentially two goals, one is the goal of preservation, to make sure that regardless of what happens to the physical copies, we have a digital version,” Matteson said. “The other is to make the environmental impact statements that we are digitizing widely available to everyone for research.”

With the help of four student assistants over the past two years, the team has catalogued and processed more than a third of the 1,400 EISs in the center鈥檚 collection. The EISs shed light on important environmental issues in the state, such as sea-level rise in Waik墨k墨 and the protection of the Hawaiian monk seal, one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world.

COVID-19 challenges

Many of the documents are themselves “endangered,” in that they are the only existing copies and are disintegrating from age. To digitize the materials, which vary widely in size and condition, Matteson and Bolduc formed a partnership with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) , which granted the student assistants use of an oversize document scanner and computers. However, due COVID-19 restrictions, the facility temporarily closed in March, and reopening plans remain uncertain.

Fortunately, the students had scanned a large number of documents before the pandemic, so they were able to compile and catalogue them from home throughout the spring and summer. The Department of History has since stepped up to provide access to its own scanner and a computer so that the project can continue.

Additional partnerships

Partnerships have been key to the project from the start. In addition to OHA, the Department of History, and the OEQC, which helped launch the project with combined grants of $20,000 in 2018–19, the project is collaborating with the at 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 Hamilton Library, where many of the physical copies of the EISs will eventually be housed. The project has also received logistical and financial support through a $15,000 grant from the , which will keep the project going through 2021.

View the documents

The documents that have been scanned and catalogued so far are . They offer insight into the vast range of development initiatives in the state since the 1970s and reveal how environmental decision-making has affected Hawaiʻi鈥檚 land, water, flora and fauna.

“There hasn鈥檛 really been one good way to get at the policy changes over the last 50 years,” Matteson said. “This is one way to provide that information.”

—By Marc Arakaki

Works by animation students in the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 were featured at a virtual film showcase, September 25–28. The (CAFF), hosted by the Honolulu Museum of Art Doris Duke Theatre, highlighted unique animated films based on diverse cultures.

Flight by senior Nalu McFadden-Rios and The Girl and the Kappa Monster by spring 2020 graduate Gavin Arucan were featured in a showcase of animated films for kids. Flight is about a young and lonely seagull who seeks friendship, but due to her inability to fly and concerns of leaving the safety of her buoy, she finds it difficult to meet others. However, after an encounter with a beluga whale, the seagull realizes that leaving her comfort zone leads to new friends.

The Girl and the Kappa Monster is about Hiriko, a lonely, young Japanese woman, who develops a close friendship with an injured kappa monster, but it takes a stronger grip on her life than she would like.

Pua ka uahi by Kalilinoe Detwiler, a current MA student in English and spring 2020 graduate in English and creative media, was spotlighted in CAFF鈥檚 opening night celebration, along with Arucan鈥檚 The Girl and the Kappa Monster. Detwiler鈥檚 film is about Pele, a young and hot-tempered volcano goddess, who has been challenged by Kamapuaʻa, a shapeshifting trickster in a race around Hawaiʻi Island.

“CAFF is a kaleidoscopic event that brings artists from around the world to Hawaiʻi and opens communication between these cultures,” Detwiler said. “It was a valuable opportunity for me and my fellow animators from Hawaiʻi to learn about stories outside of the Pacific as well as for filmmakers from all over, including Australia, Europe, and Asia to see Hawaiʻi-based films.”

Inspiring a new generation through culture

Detwiler was one of four panelists from Hawaiʻi, Australia and the Netherlands in a talk story session at the end of the opening night celebration. “Guided by Hope: Cultural Inspiration for a New Generation” was moderated by Cheng-Cheng Li, a 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 PhD student in political science and graduate degree fellow at the East-West Center.

The panelists discussed issues related to their own cultures. Detwiler conveyed that her film, Pua ka uahi, aimed to open a conversation about ethical indigenous storytelling practices when representing an indigenous culture on screen.

“I wanted young Native Hawaiians to see themselves on screen, to relate to these characters, to get the jokes and allusions, to hear their own language being spoken, and to know that their moʻolelo (story, legend and history) can go beyond Oceania by adapting culture to technology and new forms of communication,” Detwiler said. “My film isn’t unproblematic, but it is a series of careful choices and a step toward ethical indigenous storytelling through the practice of kuleana in the pre-production, production and post-production stages.”

Detwiler added, “When we seek to communicate our stories across cultures, we grow as individuals who must now make choices based on those audiences while also inviting them to learn about our culture and how it’s evolving.”

—By Marc Arakaki

The civil rights activist who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement has been selected as an endowed chair at the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补. Alicia Garza, a special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and principal at the Black Futures Lab will headline a

The keynote address is named after Garza鈥檚 first book set to be published in October 2020. In 2013, her Facebook post after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin helped inspire the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag. She assisted with the establishment of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, which has grown to include 40 chapters in four countries. Update: Garza made the TIME 100 list, along with her BLM co-founders, which was announced on September 22, 2020.

“Garza is today鈥檚 leader for a better tomorrow. She has led in the most challenging of eras, forcing us to address the uncompleted work of civil and human rights in our midst. I commend the selection committee for recruiting Alicia Garza—I am very much looking forward to learning from her and I know we will all be encouraged and inspired by her message and ongoing work,” said 东精影业 law school Dean Camille Nelson.

Garza was selected to serve as the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals at 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 for fall 2020. She will be in virtual residence for the month of September, participating in a variety of events with students, faculty and local activists. The chair is hosted in the in the College of Arts and Humanities and the and was created to bring significant public figures to Hawaiʻi to foster public discourse regarding democratic ideals and civic engagement.

A new musical genre with a centuries-old sound is sweeping YouTube, and a professor is featuring it in her courses.

The trend called “bardcore” involves musicians transforming pop songs into a “medieval” style. It took off as people who like to play with music on their computers stayed home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Bardcore” has only been around for several months, but , one of the originators of the genre, have each received more than four million views.

东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 Assistant Professor Elina Hamilton, who specializes in medieval music, said it is common for music and art to reflect the medieval time period. Hamilton said examples include composers like Richard Wagner turning to medieval subjects for his operas; painters and artists, led by people like William Morris, were inspired from the plants and creatures featured in medieval manuscripts; and recent film series such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.

“The medieval world can be the otherworld escape that we long for when we want something different from the present,” Hamilton said. “Artists, and then consumers, might turn to the medieval period repeatedly because they are wanting to escape from a world that is less desirable, or just need something that reminds us of a long-standing tradition.”

东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 ‘bardcore’ course lessons

Although “bardcore” is a very new genre, Hamilton was quick to integrate it in her classes. She has already introduced an assignment in her MUS 265 course requiring students to find a popular song that they think could be turned into a medieval-style pop song.

“One of the aspects I try to reiterate with my students in class is that people were people in the Middle Ages, just like people are people today,” Hamilton said. “I know this seems obvious, but sometimes we forget this when we study history. When we observe the images they left behind, the music they thought was worth preserving, and stories they told and retold, we acknowledge that they had troubles and victories, and plenty of escapism too.”

Hamilton鈥檚 favorite cover is by , a song originally sung by Dolly Parton.

“I have always found the lyrics of this song somehow timeless, and enjoy the way that the arranger has changed the words to reflect an early modern English style that we think of as ‘ye olde,’” Hamilton said.

—By Mark Arakaki