To begin gathering information about traditional Mānoa and the history of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, we considered a range of different resources. At the start of our research, we looked at maps of Mānoa valley dating back to the late 1800s to see the divisions of land that are on which the university sits.
We then moved on from existing publications after gathering leads to primary sources in the University Archives and found useful documentation of the history of languages and cultures on campus by researching a number of archival collections (see below for more details). After many trips to the archives we began to create a large timeline of significant events in Mānoa history in regards to language and culture and from there we came up with proposals for utilizing this research to change the linguistic landscape of the UH Mānoa campus by making it more multilingual and multicultural through signage and other semiotic aspects. After designing proposals for multilayered maps of Mānoa, signs for different divisions of land, suggestions for commissioning campus art, and proposed changes to the UHM website, we presented our ideas and to many scholars. These scholars included knowledgeable historians of UHM, the library archivists and Hawaiian collection librarians, many Native Hawaiian scholars, as well as the Office of Planning and Sustainability. We did not limit ourselves to only conversing with scholars but also included focus groups with students who currently attend UH Mānoa because they, too, are stakeholders for this research.
We then moved on from existing publications after gathering leads to primary sources in the University Archives and found useful documentation of the history of languages and cultures on campus by researching a number of archival collections (see below for more details). After many trips to the archives we began to create a large timeline of significant events in Mānoa history in regards to language and culture and from there we came up with proposals for utilizing this research to change the linguistic landscape of the UH Mānoa campus by making it more multilingual and multicultural through signage and other semiotic aspects. After designing proposals for multilayered maps of Mānoa, signs for different divisions of land, suggestions for commissioning campus art, and proposed changes to the UHM website, we presented our ideas and to many scholars. These scholars included knowledgeable historians of UHM, the library archivists and Hawaiian collection librarians, many Native Hawaiian scholars, as well as the Office of Planning and Sustainability. We did not limit ourselves to only conversing with scholars but also included focus groups with students who currently attend UH Mānoa because they, too, are stakeholders for this research.
Existing Publications About UH Mānoa
This research process began with the existing publications about the history of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in order to build a timeline of significant events beginning from pre-university Mānoa and extending to the present-day. There are a few key publications that were especially helpful in getting our research started:
Building a Rainbow
A helpful guide with specific dates for major buildings on campus and the history of who buildings are named after as well as references to useful primary resources/archival material.
Kobayashi, V.N. (1983). Building a Rainbow: A history of the buildings and grounds of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Mānoa campus. University of Hawaiʻi: Hui O Students.
A helpful guide with specific dates for major buildings on campus and the history of who buildings are named after as well as references to useful primary resources/archival material.
Kobayashi, V.N. (1983). Building a Rainbow: A history of the buildings and grounds of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Mānoa campus. University of Hawaiʻi: Hui O Students.
Mālamalama
Historical text about the university and the land beneath the university in regards to land ownership and land transfer after the Great Mahele (division of land for ownership) in Hawaiʻi.
Potter, R. E. & Kamins, R. M. (1998). Mālamalama: A History of the University of Hawaiʻi.
Historical text about the university and the land beneath the university in regards to land ownership and land transfer after the Great Mahele (division of land for ownership) in Hawaiʻi.
Potter, R. E. & Kamins, R. M. (1998). Mālamalama: A History of the University of Hawaiʻi.
UH Mānoa Campus Heritage Report
A thorough report on UHM history beginning with reports of the Hawaiian chiefs who were in Mānoa valley before the inception of the university.
Heritage Center/UHM School of Architecture. (2008). University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus heritage report. Director: Professor Spencer Leineweber.
A thorough report on UHM history beginning with reports of the Hawaiian chiefs who were in Mānoa valley before the inception of the university.
Heritage Center/UHM School of Architecture. (2008). University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus heritage report. Director: Professor Spencer Leineweber.
The Birth and History of the University of Hawaiʻi
Text written by William Kwai Fong Yap, who is credited with being the "Father of the University of Hawaiʻi" that details his journey of transitioning the College of Hawaiʻi to a full University. The book was originally written in Chinese by Yap, whose family hailed from Southern China, and it has been translated to English.
Yap, W.K.F. (1933). The birth and history of the University of Hawaiʻi. Shanghai: Kwang Hsueh Publishing [with Chinese translation]
Text written by William Kwai Fong Yap, who is credited with being the "Father of the University of Hawaiʻi" that details his journey of transitioning the College of Hawaiʻi to a full University. The book was originally written in Chinese by Yap, whose family hailed from Southern China, and it has been translated to English.
Yap, W.K.F. (1933). The birth and history of the University of Hawaiʻi. Shanghai: Kwang Hsueh Publishing [with Chinese translation]
Maps of Mānoa
A crucial part of this research stemmed from the survey maps of Mānoa valley to better understand the traditional Hawaiian names of the land that lie beneath the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In order to do this we searched through the Hawaii Land Survey Division Maps to find any maps of Mānoa that were drawn during the 1800s and 1900s. The most useful map is the 1882 survey map of Mānoa valley that includes the names of the ʻili ʻāina, or smaller portions of land in Mānoa valley. Below is a gallery of the land survey maps that we collected:
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UH Mānoa Archives
The University Archives (located in Hamilton Library on the UHM campus) proved to be a useful resource during this research. At first it was difficult to determine what archival collections to look through to find more information about linguistic and cultural history on campus. As we read more through the publications about UH Mānoa we found numerous references to certain materials such as Ka Palapala (UHM Yearbook), UHM Board of Regents Minutes, Wist Hall Boxes, Ka Leo o Hawaiʻi (School Newspaper). Each of these sources added valuable content to this project:
Board of Regents Minutes
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A few publications mentioned Hawaiian "squatters" living on Puahia lands but were not specific about how the Board of Regents handled the situation. The documents show that there were seven groups of Hawaiians still living on the land and cultivating it as is the traditional Hawaiian way of life. The BOR minutes from 1911 seen here are 7 days apart and the Board decided to forcibly evict Hawaiians from UHM lands in order to build Varney Circle. |
Board of Regents Minutes May 8, 1911
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Board of Regents Minutes May 15, 1911
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Ka Palapala (UHM Yearbook)
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Ka Palapala provided a firsthand account of student activities at the university from 1920-1968. This yearbook was helpful in providing us photos of the university and the students. For example, we utilized photos from Ka Palapala (as seen on the left) to show Japanese American students enlisting to fight in WWII to prove their loyalty to America in the 1940s. |
Wist Hall Boxes
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The Wist Hall Boxes hold a collection of materials from the UH Teachers College in the 1940s during a time where xenophobia was very prominent in the language policies for students. Within these documents there were prescribed speech classes that students needed to pass in order to prove that their English was "good enough" and if they did not pass their speech classes they were kicked out of the Teachers College. There is also documentation of the stigmatization of Pidgin or Hawaiʻi Creole English spoken among Hawaiʻi's youth in schools.
Memo documenting intolerance for "japanesy staccato"
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Speech courses required for students in Teachers College, 1946
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Ka Leo o Hawaiʻi (UHM Student Newspaper)
The Ka Leo o Hawaiʻi Newspaper proved to be invaluable for researching movements on campus throughout the history of the university. We searched through the years of Ka Leo looking specifically for movements, protests, and events that dealt with culture or language. This newspaper also provided images of the events that took place on and off campus. We gathered events dealing with language and culture and added them to our working timeline of the multicultural and multilingual history of UH Mānoa. Here are some examples of events that we collected from Ka Leo:
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Interviews with Scholars & Stakeholders
Our proposals are also informed by interviews with many different scholars and stakeholders at UH Mānoa. All of these scholars helped us to shape our research in a way that is meaningful and well-informed by considering multiple viewpoints and opinions. The scholars we have interviewed thus far are as follows:
History of UHM Campus Native Hawaiian Scholars
- Uluwehi Hopkins (PhD student, History) - Willy Kauai (Native Hawaiian Student Services)
- Craig Howes (English) - Punihei Lipe (Chancellor's Office)
- John Rosa (History) - Davianna McGregor (Ethnic Studies)
- Kapā Oliveira (Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language)
UHM Library Archives - Kekeha Solis (Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language)
- Kapena Shim (Hawaiian Collection) - Laiana Wong (Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language)
- Sherman Seki (University Archives) - Jon Osorio (Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge)
Office of Planning and Sustainability UH Administrators
- Sharon Williams, UHM Architect - Michael Bruno, Vice Chancellor for Research/Academic Affairs
- Julius Paolo, UHM Cartographer - Daniel Friedman, UHDesigner, Chancellor's Office
- James Kurata, Director - Jan Gouveia, Vice President, UH Administration
History of UHM Campus Native Hawaiian Scholars
- Uluwehi Hopkins (PhD student, History) - Willy Kauai (Native Hawaiian Student Services)
- Craig Howes (English) - Punihei Lipe (Chancellor's Office)
- John Rosa (History) - Davianna McGregor (Ethnic Studies)
- Kapā Oliveira (Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language)
UHM Library Archives - Kekeha Solis (Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language)
- Kapena Shim (Hawaiian Collection) - Laiana Wong (Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language)
- Sherman Seki (University Archives) - Jon Osorio (Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge)
Office of Planning and Sustainability UH Administrators
- Sharon Williams, UHM Architect - Michael Bruno, Vice Chancellor for Research/Academic Affairs
- Julius Paolo, UHM Cartographer - Daniel Friedman, UHDesigner, Chancellor's Office
- James Kurata, Director - Jan Gouveia, Vice President, UH Administration
Focus Groups with Students
Over the period of this research we have conducted two focus groups with students who attend the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to ask them what they would like to see on campus as far as representation of language and culture. One focus group was conducted with students who are majoring in Hawaiian Language and/or Hawaiian Studies and the other focus group was conducted with students majoring in Second Language Studies. Both of these focus groups were invaluable for us to see what students want on campus. The results are below:
- Signage for buildings that display building names with ʻili ʻāina names
- Change names of buildings to words of significance to Mānoa
- More Native Hawaiian plants on campus
- Signage for lower campus underwater caves
- Outdoor art murals depicting Hawaiian moʻolelo
- Departmental ʻŌlelo Noʻeau signage on campus
- Change names of buildings to words of significance to Mānoa
- More Native Hawaiian plants on campus
- Signage for lower campus underwater caves
- Outdoor art murals depicting Hawaiian moʻolelo
- Departmental ʻŌlelo Noʻeau signage on campus
- Include Pidgin signage on campus
----- Multidirectional way-finding sign with Pidgin phrase at the top
- Find opportunities to teach Hawaiian more informally on campus
----- Word of the day, drop-in Hawaiian language classes
- Make multilingual signs to include languages representative of student population
----- Multidirectional way-finding sign with Pidgin phrase at the top
- Find opportunities to teach Hawaiian more informally on campus
----- Word of the day, drop-in Hawaiian language classes
- Make multilingual signs to include languages representative of student population
