Tides of Thought and Encounters: An Academic Voyage to Hawaiʻi

by Daniel Zhang and Lilia Yan

^{Daniel Zhang and Lilia Yan are graduate students pursuing an MA in East Asian Studies at Duke University. Thanks to funding from APSI, they each presented a paper at the 24th East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference. Their panel, “Transcending Normativity: Media and Gender,” examined the intersection of gender and media across East Asia. Their experience reflects the importance of forging connections—across disciplines, cultures, and oceans.}

As North Carolina remained shrouded in the lingering gray of a rainy February, we were fortunate to receive APSI funding to travel to Hawaiʻi for the 24th East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference (ICSC), where we had the privilege of presenting our research on gender and sexuality.

Chanting Knowledge from the Ocean: The Keynote Address

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This year’s conference, themed “Our Unique Planet: Navigating Our Shared Future,” gathered over 100 presenters offering diverse perspectives on indigeneity and the future. The conference opened with an insightful keynote talk by Dr. Rosie ʻAnolani Alegado, who introduced her lecture through the native Hawaiian mele (chants) E Kanaloanuiākea. She illustrated how this orature functions as an oceanographic opus, carrying within its verses a sophisticated body of scientific knowledge embedded in kanaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiian) epistemologies.

Over the past three decades, critical discourse by Indigenous scholars has challenged dominant research paradigms, creating a generative space for reclaiming kanaka ʻōiwi scholarship. As Dr. Alegado explained, Native Hawaiian knowledge is deeply rooted in the natural environment and in moʻokūauhau (ancestral lineages). Like other Indigenous epistemologies, it is pragmatic, human-centered, and inextricably linked to utility and purpose. In this sense, mele is more than a poetic tradition. It is a vessel carrying generations of ecological wisdom, a knowledge system that predates and, in many ways, challenges the epistemic authority of Western science.

Although Dr. Alegado is a professor of oceanography, her lecture blended the absolute boundaries between science and the humanities, emphasizing the contributions of Indigenous knowledge systems to contemporary scientific research. This resonated deeply with the ontological turn we have encountered in anthropology, which challenges the traditional epistemological perspective, emphasizing that different cultures may have fundamentally distinct worldviews and ways of constructing reality rather than merely offering different interpretations of the same objective world.

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One Hawaiian proverb that Dr. Alegado referenced particularly struck us: “I ka wā ma mua, I ka wā ma hope,” which translates to “the time in front, the time in back.” As Hawaiian scholar Kameʻeleihiwa (1992) explains, this phrase envisions time differently: one stands firmly in the present, not facing the future but looking toward the past, searching for answers to guide the path forward. Perhaps we can gain deeper insight into our world if we learn to see time not as an arrow but as a wave, one where the past continuously resurfaces in the present. This reframing of time is both poetic and epistemological: it suggests that knowledge is not solely about innovation but also about remembrance and restoration.

Another Hawaiian saying encapsulated the spirit of this conference: “‘Aʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi,” meaning “Not all knowledge is held in a single school.” Dr. Alegado’s keynote set the tone for the four-day conference, inviting attendees to engage with decolonial perspectives and explore how we might forge a shared future through multiplicity, rather than hegemony.

Panel Reflections: Transcending Normativity

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One of the most rewarding aspects of the conference was engaging with our panel members. Our panel, titled “Transcending Normativity: Media and Gender,” brought together four scholars examining the intersection of gender and media across East Asia. Despite coming from different disciplinary backgrounds—including linguistics, media studies, and anthropology—and focusing on distinct national contexts (China, Japan, and Korea), we were struck by how much our research spoke to each other.

Our presentations explored the ways media negotiates and challenges normative structures, from juvenile delinquent identity in the Netflix adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho, to queer romance in fan-edited danmei (BL) adaptations, to heteronormativity in Japanese gay pornography, to the influence of the furry genre on human-nonhuman relationships. Each of our studies tackled questions of desire, deviance, and the politics of representation, intersecting in unexpected ways.

The panel extended beyond the session itself. After our presentations, the four of us stayed back to continue discussing our research, learning from one another in ways that academic writing alone could never replicate. This, perhaps, is the true essence of a conference: not simply to present, but to connect—to see one’s work reflected in others, to find new directions through conversation.

Beyond the Conference: A Taste of Hawaiʻi

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Academia, of course, does not exist in a vacuum. As students who firmly believe that cuisine is an essential lens into culture, we were eager to explore Hawaiʻi’s food traditions. Under the guidance of our new friend Sarah, we sampled traditional Hawaiian dishes such as poi, lau lau, and ʻuala. Admittedly, not all flavors resonated with our taste buds. Poi’s characteristic sourness, for instance, was not a delicious taste for us. However, each dish offered insight into how Native Hawaiians utilize local ingredients to craft a distinct culinary heritage.

We also visited a pineapple plantation, where vast fields stretched toward the horizon, and indulged in ube and taro-based desserts, learning about their central role in Hawaiian cuisine. 

The experience deepened our appreciation for poke bowls, which embody the very essence of the Hawaiian food philosophy: eating in harmony with one’s environment. Meanwhile, Hawaiʻi’s vibrant Japanese culinary influences, from ramen shops to mochi bakeries, underscored the deep history of transnational diaspora and its imprint on local food culture.

Exploring the Sacred and the Scenic

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Having traveled across the Pacific, we could not pass up the opportunity to explore Hawaiʻi’s cultural and natural landscapes. At Kualoa Ranch, once a sacred valley for ancient Hawaiians, we glimpsed the historical depth of the land, which was revered long before it became a Hollywood filming location. 

Hanauma Bay offered a lesson in ecological conservation, where the fragility of coral reefs underscored the necessity of sustainable tourism. 

Hiking up Diamond Head, a site once integral to Oʻahu’s coastal defense system, we stood at the summit, gazing at the vast expanse of the Pacific, contemplating the many layers of history embedded in the land beneath our feet.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Conferences, like travel, remind us that knowledge is never singular: it is relational, dynamic, and ever-expanding. Our time in Hawaiʻi was more than an academic endeavor; it was an invitation to rethink how we approach research, how we listen to voices beyond our disciplines, and how we engage with the world around us.

As we return to North Carolina, leaving behind the warmth of the Pacific breeze, we carry with us not just insights from our panels, but a deeper appreciation for the multiplicity of knowledge, the interplay of past and future, and the importance of forging connections—across disciplines, across cultures, and across oceans.

Mahalo, Hawaiʻi. Until next time.

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