Joyce Chinen

Author: Aya Shirayama

1. Who are you? 

Joyce N Chinen, Retired Professor of Sociology in the Division of Social Sciences at UH-West O’ahu and Retired Director of Center for Okinawan Studies at UHM. 

2. What is your connection with Okinawan Studies at UHM?

I worked with Drs. Gay Satsuma, Robert Huey, Leon Serafim, Kyoko Hijirida, Patricia Steinhoff, Lonny

Carlisle, Stewart Andy Curry, Dr. Christine Yano, Dr. Mari Yoshihara, Dr. Mire Koikari, and our former Japanese Collection Librarian, Tokiko Bazzell to secure funds to complete and publish the late Mitsugu Sakihara’s Okinawan-English Handbook (see Uchinaaguchi Language Textbooks), as well as to republish Uchinanchu: History of an Island People, the book published by UHPress in the 1980s was out of print and no longer available. 

As we “matured,” we expanded to include Dr. Charlene Gima (Honolulu CC) and Brian Yamamoto (Kauai CC), Dr. Ty Tengan, (UHM Ethnic Studies), and others who added to the focus on the Okinawan Diaspora, particularly Hawai’i’s first and sizable diasporic Okinawan  community.

COS funds also underwrote the translation of Mamoru AKAMINE‘s history book which was to be used in teaching Okinawan History.

3. Is there any resource held by UHM you want to recommend to the student who wants to study about Okinawa? 

We have many resources complete in the Library (Sakamaki-Hawley collection; Karate collection; Biological  Sciences  Archaeology of Okinawa), and many others.  

4. Please tell me a story about how your Okinawan heritage has influenced your Okinawan studies and your academic position in general.

I participated in past Hawaii United Okinawa Association’s led by Dr. Mitsugu Sakihara and Ruth  worked with them on the sponsoring of symposium and creation of  resource materials.

5. Please tell me a story about how you became the Center for Okinawan Studies director.

Directors are elected for 3-year terms with possibility of one subsequent term renewal. Dr. Leon Serafim was the first Director, but resigned after one year for health reasons.  Dr. Kyoko Hijirida stepped in to finish his term but retired as well.  I stepped in to complete the last year of their collective first term; then stood for election turn.

6. What do you think of the future of Okinawan studies and the Okinawan community in Hawaii?

I hope the future of Okinawan studies continues to be bright, but I think there are several challenges.  Already the Okinawan Music, such as sanshin (see Okinawa in Ethnomusicology), and Okinawan Dance courses are not regularly offered.  The role(s) of the waves of Okinawan immigration, their class and sex ratios/compositions and the diaspora should be better studied; also the issues of militarism vs pacifism.