Center for Pacific Islands Studies

09/28/2026

Join us for a Pacific Islands Studies Occasional Seminar with Ron Vave on "Building a Home for Indigenous Pacific Scholarship: The iTaukei (Fijian) Scholar Database and Dashboard, and a Model for the Region" on Monday, 28 September 2026 from 12:00-1:15 PM in Moore 319.

For the 25-26 year we will be featuring our faculty, staff, and affiliates as well as visiting scholars every 2nd and 4th Monday of the academic year from 12-1:15 PM in Moore Hall 319. Come enjoy community, coffee, and snacks (when budgets allow!)! Future seminar dates are Oct 12 & 26, and Nov 9 & 23.

09/19/2026

Please join us at the grand opening of the "Ocean of Peace" exhibition at the East-West Center Art Gallery this weekend on Sunday, 20 September 2026 at 2:00 PM. If you can't make it this weekend, the show will be on view from 20 September 2026 - 10 January 2027.

Inspired by the historic 2025 declaration by Pacific Island leaders, Ocean of Peace anchors a vision of the future in the enduring harmony, cooperation, and ancestral wisdom of Pacific peoples. Pacific Island leaders declared the Blue Pacific Continent as an Ocean of Peace.

The Ocean of Peace exhibition features eleven contemporary artists whose visual storytelling spans carving, painting, drawing, photography, poetry, sculpture, weaving, and digital rendering. Exhibited alongside select treasures from the East-West Center Collection, these dynamic offerings bridge cultures and communities, inviting us all to look beyond geopolitical divisions and collectively realize a unified ocean of peace.

This collaborative exhibition is organized into thematic areas of Story, Restoring and Re-story-ing; Generations, Responsibility to Community; Renewal, Resilience, and Protection.

Featured artists: James C. Bamba, Carol Ann Carl, Manny Crisostomo, Gillian Dueñas, Kainoa Gruspe, Amber Khan, Marques Hanalei Marzan, Kalany Omengkar, Saumolia Puapuaga, Anthony Watson, and Lissette Yamase
Curators: Annie Reynolds, Mary Hattori, Eric Chang, Jonathan Clark

09/16/2026

Event of Interest!

Attend Kaiāulu Ā Pa‘a, a community convening to accelerate climate action with an emphasis on affordability, energy democracy, and home resilience.
The evening will feature a keynote address by Indigenous human rights attorney Julian Aguon, founder of Blue Ocean Law and author of No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies.

📅 Wednesday, September 16, 2026
🕕 6:00 PM
📍 Queen’s Conference Center
1301 Punchbowl St, Honolulu
🎟️ Register here:

A keynote address by author and attorney Julian Aguon, followed by the Climate Leadership Awards.

09/15/2026

Still firming up your Spring 2027 plans? Consider spending Spring 2027 in Paris with UHM Study Abroad!

Along with a diverse course offerings taught in English, you can fulfill your HAP and WI requirements with two Pacific history courses taught by Dr. Monica LaBriola:
🌴 HIST 288: Oceania Survey: France and Oceania (HAP + WI)
✨ HIST 366: Women in Oceania and the French Imaginary (HAP + WI)

Want to learn more? Join the upcoming info session:
💻 Zoom: Sept 16 @ 11:30 AM | https://go.hawaii.edu/kQv
📍 In-Person: Sept 22 @ 11:00 AM | Moore 153A

⏰ Application Deadline: October 1 at 4:00 PM
📩 Reach out to Dr. LaBriola directly at [email protected] with any questions!

09/14/2026

On Monday, 14 September 2026 from 12-1:15 PM we are excited to bring back the Pacific Islands Studies Occasional Seminar with our first contributor, CP*S' Michelle Harangody on "Rendering Ecological: Federal conceptualizations of coral reefs in the United States" in the Tokioka Room (Moore Hall 319).

We are excited to celebrate the return of our long running P*S Occasional Seminar Series (dates all the way back to the 1980s!). For the 25-26 year we will be featuring our faculty, staff, and affiliates as well as visiting scholars every 2nd and 4th Monday of the academic year from 12-1:15 PM in Moore Hall 319.

Come enjoy community, coffee, and snacks (when budgets allow!)!

09/12/2026

Join us TODAY, Saturday, 12 September 2026 from 6 - 8 PM for "Remathau: People of the Ocean" film screening and talk story at Capitol Modern.

The event includes a screening of “Remathau: People of the Ocean” and discussion with director Daniel Lim. Synopsis: follow the journey of Nicole Yamase, a young marine biologist from Micronesia who ventures to the deepest part of the ocean and begins and even deeper dive of self-discovery as she reconnects with her people’s resilience and oceanic roots.

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-remathau-people-of-the-ocean-tickets-1999737401399?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/11/2026

Come join us TODAY, 11 September 2026 from 4:30 PM for an Aloha Kick Off Mixer with TIDES in the Moore Hall Courtyard. Come enjoy food, music, and kava!

09/08/2026

What if you could study abroad in Paris and take Pacific-focused courses at the same time?

Spend Spring 2027 in Paris with UHM Study Abroad! Along with a diverse course offerings taught in English, you can fulfill your HAP and WI requirements with two Pacific history courses taught by Dr. Monica LaBriola:

🌴 HIST 288: Oceania Survey: France and Oceania (HAP + WI)
✨ HIST 366: Women in Oceania and the French Imaginary (HAP + WI)

Want to learn more? Drop by an upcoming info session:
📍 In-Person: Sept 8 @ 10:30 AM | Moore 158
💻 Zoom: Sept 16 @ 11:30 AM | https://go.hawaii.edu/kQv
⏰ Application Deadline: October 1 at 4:00 PM

📩 Reach out to Dr. LaBriola directly at [email protected] with any questions!

09/04/2026

A warm welcome back to campus for all of our students, affiliates, and faculty across the university! Here's to a great year ahead!

08/29/2026

Don't sleep on the amazing resources at Hamilton Library's world class Hawaiian and Pacific Collections!