Pacific Syllabus Initiative (Pre 2007)

We welcome you to explore the 220 syllabi (linked below) which were collected as part of the Pacific Syllabus Initiative (PSI) to provide examples of Pacific Studies teaching before 2007. The PSI was a joint project of the University of Hawai`i Center for Pacific Islands Studies and the East-West Center's Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP).

The purpose of the online collection is to make available instructional materials for teaching about the Pacific Islands region in a wide range of courses from elementary through graduate levels. College courses are the primary focus, but all levels are included. While the site includes material from specialized courses on the Pacific, it also aims to facilitate teaching about the Pacific in nonspecialized courses across the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. The collection is envisioned as a cooperative venture among a network of participating scholars and institutions. By placing syllabi, reading lists and bibliographies online, the site also promotes dialogue on diverse approaches to teaching about the Pacific in a variety of contexts.

Melanesia

• Colonialism, Development, and the Bougainville Crisis (Wesley-Smith/Ogan, 1998)

• Ethnography of the Pacific Islands: Melanesia (Barker, 2005)

• First Contact and its aftermath in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (Golub, 2002)

• History of Micronesia and Melanesia (Jonassen, 1997)

• Social Forms (Akin, 2004)

• Societies and Cultures of Melanesia (Akin, 1998)

Micronesia

• Contemporary Issues and Problems in Micronesia (Kihleng, 1999)

• History of Guam (Flores, 2003)

• History of Micronesia and Melanesia (Jonassen, 1997)

• Micronesian Women in History and Culture (Kihleng, 1999)

• Peoples and Cultures of Micronesia (Kihleng, 1999)

Polynesia

• Ethnography of Island Polynesia (Huntsman, 2003)

• Ethnography of Island Polynesia (Huntsman, 2000)

• Ethnography of Island Polynesia (Huntsman, 1996)

• Ethnography of the Pacific Islands: Polynesia and Micronesia (Barker, 2003)

• Hawaiian History (Higgins, 2003)

• Literature of Hawaii (Bott, 2000)

• Maori History, Culture, and Society (Tuteao, 2001)

• Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands (Kay/Lamoureux, 1997)

• Plants in the Hawaiian Environment (Millen, 1997)

• Polynesian Cultures (Young Leslie, 2004)

• Polynesian Cultures (Area) (Howard, 1997)

• Polynesian Religions (Charlot, 1996)

• Society & Culture in the Pacific (Pollock, 1996)

• Understanding Hawaiian Religion (Charlot, 1996)

Anthropology

• Anthropology of Tourism (Adams, 1998)

• Anthropology of Tourism (Adams, 2003)

• Anthropology of Tourism (White, 2001)

• Change in the Pacific (Severance, 2002)

• Change in the Pacific (Severance, 1996)

• Colonial Encounters in Myth, History and Narrative (Dominy, 1999)

• Contemporary Pacific Societies (Stanton, 2004)

• Contemporary Pacific Studies (Ka'ili, 2006)

• Culture and Power in the Pacific (Goldsmith, 2006)

• Cultures of Oceania (Severance, 1997)

• Cultures of Oceania (Severance, 2003)

• Cultures of the Pacific (Scaglion, 1997)

• Cultures of the Pacific (Scaglion, 2006)

• Cultures of the Pacific (Hooe, 1998)

• Cultures of the World (with an emphasis on Pacific Islanders on the US mainland) (Holmes, 1999)

• Economies across Cultures (Akin, 1998)

• Ethnographic Fieldwork for the 21st Century (Besnier, 2002)

• Ethnography of Island Polynesia (Huntsman, 2003)

• Ethnography of Island Polynesia (Huntsman, 2000)

• Ethnography of the Pacific Islands (Borofsky, 2002)

• Ethnography of Island Polynesia (Huntsman, 1996)

• Ethnography of the Pacific Islands (Borofsky, 1996)

• Ethnography of the Pacific Islands: Polynesia and Micronesia (Barker, 2003)

• Ethnography of the Pacific Islands: Melanesia (Barker, 2005)

• First Contact and its aftermath in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (Golub, 2002)

• Gender and Historical Anthropology: History of the South Pacific (Jolly, 1998)

• Gender, Colonialism and Postcolonialism (Douglas, 1995)

• Human Adaptation to Sea (Finney, 1997)

• Human Adaptation to the Sea (Luna, 2005)

• Native Canoe Cultures of the Great Lakes and the Pacific Islands (Diaz and Low, 2006)

• Navigating Culture and History in the Pacific (Diaz and Kirsch, 2005)

• Oceanic Societies: Pacific Islands Living (McCall, 2003)

• Oceanic Societies: Pacific Islands Living (McCall, 1999)

• Pacific Cultures (Urbanowicz, 1998)

• Pacific Development in a Global Context (McCall, 1999)

• Pacific Ethnology (Scaglion, 1996)

• Pacific Islands Cultures (White 2004)

• Pacific Island Cultures (Young Leslie, 2002)

• Pacific Island Cultures (Walsh, 1999)

• Pacific Island Cultures (1) (Silverman, 1996)

• Pacific Island Cultures (2) (Silverman, 1996)

• Pacific Islands (Pomponio, 2003)

• Pacific Islanders: Histories, Cultures, and Change (Lederman, 2001)

• Pacific Islands Cultures (White, 2001)

• Pacific Islands Literature (Kahn, 2003)

• Pacific Prehistory (Graduate) (Scaglion, 2003)

• People of the Pacific (Lindstrom, 2002)

• Pacific Prehistory & Ethnology Analogy (Scaglion, 1997)

• Peoples and Cultures of Micronesia (Kihleng, 1999)

• Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific (Pascal, 1999)

• Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific (Gegeo)

• Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific (Lipset, 1996)

• Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific (McCutcheon)

• Peoples of the Pacific (Rodman, 1999)

• Peoples of the Pacific (Rodman, 2005)

• Peoples of the Pacific (Lindstrom, 1992)

• Peoples of the Pacific (Rodman, 2003)

• Peoples of the South Pacific (Calamia, 2003)

• Physical Anthropology of Pacific Population (Heathcote, 2003)

• Polynesian Cultures (Area) (Howard, 1997)

• Polynesian Cultures (Young Leslie, 2004)

• Polynesia: Great Anthropological Debates (Tomlinson, 2005)

• Seminar in Contemporary Anthropological Issues (Gewertz, 2004)

• Senior Seminar in Pacific Islands Studies (Severance, 2003)

• Seminar in Contemporary Theory: Anthropology and Literature (Dominy, 1998)

• Social Forms (Akin, 2004)

• Societies and Cultures of Melanesia (Akin, 1998)

• Society & Culture in the Pacific (Pollock, 1996)

• US Pacific Islander Contemporary Culture (Ka'ili, 2003)

Art

• Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Native Americans (Cortez, 1999)

• Contemporary Maori and Pacific Art (Panoho, 1997)

• Culture and Policy in the Pacific (Werry, 2003)

• Envisioning Oceania: Indigenous and European Visions in the Pacific (Jolly, 2001)

• Introduction to Maori Art (Ellis, 2006)

• Indigenous Women's Art (Ellis, 2006)

• Theory and Context: Pacific Art and Postcolonial Theory (Brunt, 2004)

• Topics in Contemporary Pacific Art (Vercoe, 1998)

• Tradition and Change in Pacific Art (Vercoe, 1999)

Bibliographies

• Albert Wendt: Bibliography (Sharrad, 2003)

• Bibliography of Tuvalu (Goldsmith, 2005)

• Micronesia: A Selective Bibliography (Peacock, 1997)

• Reference Sources for Papua New Guinea (Peacock, 2001)

• Samoa: A Selected Bibliography (Peacock, 1997)

• Samoa: Reference Sources (Peacock, 2001)

• Selected Reference Sources for Fiji (Peacock, 2001)

• Selected Reference Sources for Micronesia (Peacock, 2001)

• Tahiti: A Selective Bibliography (Peacock, 1997)

Contemporary Issues

• Anthropology of Tourism (Adams, 1998)

• Anthropology of Tourism (White, 2001)

• Asia in the Pacific (Wesley-Smith/Sharma, 1998)

• Change in the Pacific (Severance, 2002)

• Colonialism, Development, and the Bougainville Crisis (Wesley-Smith/Ogan, 1998)

• Contemporary Issues and Problems in Micronesia (Kihleng, 1999)

• Contemporary Pacific (Fermantez, 2005)

• Contemporary Pacific (Wesley-Smith, 2004)

• Contemporary Pacific Societies (Stanton, 2004)

• Contemporary Pacific Studies (Ka'ili, 2006)

• Contemporary Pacific (Kiste, 1999)

• Contemporary Pacific (Wesley-Smith, 1997)

• Crossing Borders: Hawai'i and Asia and the Pacific (Sharma, Osorio, and Hereniko 2004)

• Crossing Borders: Hawai'i/Asia/Pacific (Osorio, Teaiwa, Trimillos, 2003)

• Development and Change (Robertson, 2003)

• Development and Underdevelopment in the Pacific Islands (Wesley-Smith, 1996)

• Engaging Narratives: Hip Hop, Diaspora, and Imagination in the Pacific (Henderson, 2004)

• Framing the Pacific : Theorising Culture and Society (T Teaiwa, 2001)

• Gender Issues in the Contemporary Pacific Islands (Hattori, 1998)

• Globalisation and Popular Culture in the Pacific (Henderson, 2005)

• Hawai'i and the Pacific (Tengan, 2005)

• Language and Culture Revitalization (Romaine, 2001)

• Literatures and Cultures of the Pacific Islands (Raiskin, 2001)

• Navigating Culture and History in the Pacific (Diaz and Kirsch, 2005)

• Oceanic Societies: Pacific Islands Living (McCall, 2003)

• Pacific Challenge (Ringer, 2002)

• Pacific Development in a Global Context (McCall, 1998)

• The Pacific Heritage 2002 (Teaiwa, 2002)

• The Pacific Heritage 2002 - Summer Session Field Trip (Teaiwa, 2002)

• Pacific Islander American Experience (Walker, 2006)

• Pacific Islands Cultures (White 2004)

• Pacific Island Worlds: Today & Tomorrow (Losch, 2004)

• Pacific Islands Security and Development (Shibuya, 2003)

• Pacific Islands Security and Development (Shibuya, 2000)

• Pacific Island Worlds: An Introduction to Pacific Studies (Huffer, 2000)

• Population in the Pacific Islands (Pirie, 1997)

• Pidgin and Creole Languages (Romaine, 2001) 

• Seminar in Contemporary Anthropological Issues (Gewertz, 2004)

• Postcolonial Perspectives (Morton, 2000)

• US Pacific Islander Contemporary Culture (Ka'ili, 2003)

• US Pacific Islander Contemporary Culture (McGrath, 2002)

Cultural Studies

• Anthropology of Tourism (Adams, 2003)

• Colonial Encounters in Myth, History and Narrative (Dominy, 1999)

• Comparative Diasporas I: Indigenous Perspectives (Lai, 2003)

• Crossing Borders: Hawai'i and Asia and the Pacific (Sharma, Osorio, and Hereniko 2004)

• Culture and Policy in the Pacific (Werry, 2003)

• Cultural Identities: America and the Pacific (White, 1999)

• Cultural Identities: Pacific and American Perspectives (Hereniko/White, 1994)

• Envisioning Oceania: Indigenous and European Visions in the Pacific (Jolly, 2001)

• Globalisation and Popular Culture in the Pacific (Henderson, 2005)

• Hawai'i and the Pacific (Tengan, 2005)

• Images of Paradise: Representations of the Pacific Island in Film and Video (Hereniko, 1997)

• Indigenous and Postcolonial Perspectives in Education (Kaomea, 2004)

• Looking Back: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Pacific Photography and Cinema (Jolly 2002)

• Micronesian Women in History and Culture (Kihleng, 1999)

• The Body and Pacific Studies (K Teaiwa and J Van Zile, 2005)

• The Pacific Heritage 2001 (T Teaiwa, 2001)

• The Pacific Heritage 2002 (Teaiwa, 2002)

• The Pacific Heritage 2002 - Summer Session Field Trip (Teaiwa, 2002)

• Pacific Literary and Cultural Studies (Najita, 2006)

• Politics of Culture and Identity: Pacific Islands Perspectives (White, 1995)

• Politics of Pacific History (Teaiwa)

• Politics of Representation: Ethnography, Literature and Film in the Pacific Islands (White, 1997)

• Polynesia: Great Anthropological Debates (Tomlinson, 2005)

• Re-imagining Indigenous Cultures (White, 2003)

• Representations of Pacific Islands and Islanders (Kahn, 1996)

• The Transoceanic Imagination (DeLoughrey, 2001)

• Women in Oceania (K Teaiwa, 2003)

Economics

• Development and Change (Robertson, 2003)

• Economies across Cultures (Akin, 1998)

• Pacific Island Economies (Jayaraman, 2005)

Education

• Indigenous and Postcolonial Perspectives in Education (Kaomea, 2004)

• Theories and Ideas in Education (K Thaman, 1999)

Film Studies

• Gender and Film in the Pacific (Camacho, 2006)

• Hawai`i and the Pacific in Film (Wood, 2004)

• Hawaii and the Pacific in Film (Hereniko, 2004)

• Images of Paradise: Representations of the Pacific Islands in Film and Video (Hereniko, 1997)

• Looking Back: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Pacific Photography and Cinema (Jolly 2002)

• Pacific Film (Sinavaiana-Gabbard, 1999)

Gender Studies

• Gender and Film in the Pacific (Camacho, 2006)

• Gender, Colonialism and Postcolonialism (Douglas, 1995)

• Gender Issues in the Contemporary Pacific Islands (Hattori, 1998)

• Gender and Historical Anthropology: History of the South Pacific (Jolly, 1998)

• Indigenous Women's Art (Ellis, 2006)

• Looking Back: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Pacific Photography and Cinema (Jolly 2002)

• Micronesian Women in History and Culture (Kihleng, 1999)

• Women in Oceania (K Teaiwa, 2003)

Geography

• Geography of Oceania (Kuhlken, 2002)

• Geography of the Pacific (Tsujita, 2005)

• Geography of the Pacific (Liliomaiava-Doktor, 2006)

• Pacific Islands Area (Koletty, 2001)

• Population in the Pacific Islands (Pirie, 1997)

History

• Australia and the South Pacific (Quanchi, 2001)

• Changing Environments 2001 (T Teaiwa, 2001)

• Colonialism and Independence in the Asia-Pacific (Quanchi, 2002)

• Comparative Diasporas I: Indigenous Perspectives (Lai, 2003)

• Culture Contact in the Pacific (Quanchi, 2001)

• Environment and History in Oceania and Australasia (D'Arcy, 2001)

• From Colonialism to Partnership? Europe in the Pacific (Koloamatangi, 2006)

• Gender and Film in the Pacific (Camacho, 2006)

• Gender and Historical Anthropology: History of the South Pacific (Jolly, 1998)

• Gender, Colonialism and Postcolonialism (Douglas/Macintyre, 1995)

• Hawaiian History (Higgins, 2003)

• History of Guam (Flores, 2003)

• History of Micronesia and Melanesia (Jonassen, 1997)

• History of the Pacific (Spickard et al, 2002)

• History of the Pacific Islands (20th Century) (Chappell, 1997)

• Native Canoe Cultures of the Great Lakes and the Pacific Islands (Diaz and Low, 2006)

• Navigating Culture and History in the Pacific (Diaz and Kirsch, 2005)

• Pacific Islander American Experience (Walker, 2006)

• Pacific Island Worlds: Today & Tomorrow (Losch, 2004)

• Pacific Since 1945 (Quanchi, 2003)

• Politics of Pacific History (Teaiwa)

• Seminar in 20th Century Pacific Island History (Chappell, 1997)

• South Pacific: Culture and Contact (Hempenstall, 1997)

• South Pacific in Recent Times (Hempenstall, 1997)

• Survey of Pacific Islands History (Higgins, 2003)

• Survey of Pacific Islands History (Chappell, 1993)

• Survey of Pacific Islands History (Cole, 1998)

• USA and the Asia-Pacific Region (Quanchi, 2002)

Interdisciplinary Approaches

• Approaches to Pacific Islands Studies (Wesley-Smith, 1997)

• Crossing Borders: Hawai'i and Asia and the Pacific (Sharma, Osorio, and Hereniko 2004)

• Environment and History in Oceania and Australasia (D'Arcy, 2001)

• Internship (Jonassen, 2006)

• Learning Oceania: Approaches to Pacific Islands Studies (Wesley-Smith, 2004)

• Pacific Island Research Fieldwork / Experiencing the Pacific Islands through Fieldwork (McCall, 1999)

• Research Materials and Design (Wesley-Smith/Peacock, 1997)

• Researching Oceania: Creative and Conventional Methods of Interdisciplinary Inquiry (Teaiwa, 2006)

Language

• Language and Culture Revitalization (Romaine, 2001)

• Pacific Island Language Issues (Bradshaw, 1997)

• Pidgin and Creole Languages (Romaine, 2001)

• Rarotongan Maori (Jonassen, 2005)

Literature and Theater

• Advanced Composition (Luangphinith, 2003)

• Decolonizing the Pacific: Contemporary Literature and Culture (Najita, 2003)

• Drama and Theatre of Oceania (Hereniko and Carroll, 2001)

• English 103 (Herrera, 2000)

• English 201.161 (Lin, 2001)

• Fictional Worlds: Travel, Literature, Culture (Ellis, 1998)

• From Speaking to Writing in Oceanic Literature (Sinavaiana-Gabbard, 2001)

• Introduction to Asian American Literature: The Literatures of Hawai'i (Najita, 2002)

• Islands Literature: From Paradise to the Postcolonial (Ellis, 1997)

• Literature from the Pacific (Tawake, 1995)

• Literature of Hawaii (Bott, 2000)

• Literature of Oceania (Tupou, 2003)

• Literature of Oceania (Ellis, 2000)

• Literature of the Pacific (Wendt and Whaitiri, 2004)

• Literature of the Pacific (Sinavaiana-Gabbard, 1997)

• Literatures and Cultures of the Pacific Islands (Raiskin, 2001)

• Literatures of the Archipelagoes: Caribbean and Pacific (DeLoughrey, 2000)

• The Literatures of Hawai'i (Najita, 2005)

• Literature/s of the Pacific (Sinavaiana-Gabbard, 1999)

• Pacific Islands Literature (Kahn, 2003)

• Pacific Literature (Sharrad, 2002)

• Pacific Literature (Sinavaiana-Gabbard, 1997)

• Pacific Literature: Freshman Writing Seminar (DeLoughrey, 1999)

• Pacific Literary and Cultural Studies (Najita, 2006)

• Post-Colonial Literature (Luangphinith, 2005)

• Reading and Writing Oceania (Christiansen, 2006)

• Seminar in Contemporary Theory: Anthropology and Literature (Dominy, 1998)

• Sociology through Literature (Harriford/Lin, 2000)

• South Pacific Literature (Tawake, 1997)

• Three Centuries of Intercultural Exchange in the Pacific (Lyons, 2004)

• The Transoceanic Imagination (DeLoughrey, 2001)

Music and Dance

• Engaging Narratives: Hip Hop, Diaspora, and Imagination in the Pacific (Henderson, 2004)

• Music and Dance (Stillman, 1999)

• Musics of Oceania (Feld, 2003)

• Studies in Pacific Islands Musics (Stillman, 1994)

• The Body and Pacific Studies (K Teaiwa and J Van Zile, 2005)

Natural Sciences

• Atoll (Merlin, 1997)

• Hawaiian Ethnobotany (McClatchey, 2002)

• Introductory Ethnobotany (McClatchey, 2002)

• Medical Ethnobotany (McClatchey, 2002)

• Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands (Kay/Lamoureux, 1997)

• Plants in the Hawaiian Environment (Millen, 1997)

Political Science

• Culture and Power in the Pacific (Goldsmith, 2006)

• Colonialism, Development, and the Bougainville Crisis (Wesley-Smith/Ogan, 1998)

• Contemporary Australia and New Zealand (Weller, 1998)

• From Colonialism to Partnership? Europe in the Pacific (Nero and Koloamatangi, 2006)

• International Politics: New Zealand, Conflict and Pacific Politics (Koloamatangi and Henderson, 2005)

• Oceanic Governments (Jonassen, 1997)

• Oceanic Governments (Jonassen, 2006)

• Pacific Regionalism (Jonassen, 2006)

• Pacific National Politics: Fiji (Jonassen, 2005)

• Pacific National Politics: New Zealand (Jonassen, 2004)

Religion

• Hawaiian Christianity (Charlot, 2003)

• Maori Religion (Charlot, 1997)

• Hawaiian Gods: Pele and Kamapua'a (Charlot, 1995)

• The Pele Literature: Hawaiian Religion (Charlot, 2005)

• Polynesian Religions (Charlot, 1996)

• Understanding Hawaiian Religion (Charlot, 1996)

The following syllabi were previously available but are lost to the internet archive, please let us know if you have a copy you would be willing to share:

• Learning Oceania (Wesley-Smith, 2005)

• Pacific History: The Colonial Era (Campbell)

• Politics of Indigenous Identity, Ethnicity and Tradition (Douglas, 1995)

• Bibliography of Non-Indigenous Literary Writings on the Pacific (Sharrad)

• Politics of Indigenous Identity, Ethnicity and Tradition (Douglas, 1995)

• Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific (Brison, 1996)

And a warm Pacific thank you to all who contributed their syllabi to this initiative!