Contemporary Young Adult Literature in Hawai'i and the Pacific

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Contemporary Young Adult Literature in Hawai'i and the Pacific View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarSpace at University of Hawai'i at Manoa CONTEMPORARY YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE IN HAWAI‘I AND THE PACIFIC: GENRE, DIASPORA, AND OCEANIC FUTURES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH AUGUST 2018 By Caryn Kunz Lesuma Dissertation Committee: ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui, Chairperson Cristina Bacchilega Georganne Nordstrom Manumaua Simanu-Klutz John Zuern Keywords: Young Adult Literature, Pacific Literature, ‘afakasi, Oceania, diaspora, Indigenous pedagogy, Pasifika youth ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, mahalo nui loa to my dissertation committee for their generosity and wisdom throughout my time at Mānoa and especially during the dissertation writing process. Thank you for challenging me and cheering me on; I have become a better person under your guidance. Cristina Bacchilega, I hope to one day become a scholar, mentor, and friend like you. Thanks for reminding me to be kind to myself and to be present in all of the different arenas of my life. Georganne Nordstrom, thank you for your example of hard work and your unwavering confidence in my scholarship and abilities. You have taught me how to ask and think through difficult questions. Fa‘afetai tele lava to Fata Simanu-Klutz for pushing me to think more deeply about what it means to be a Samoan scholar and to consciously articulate my responsibilities as a teacher of Pasifika students and as a member of the Pasifika community. John Zuern, thank you for helping me to understand and value theory, and for modeling how to think and teach with humility, kindness, and respectful attention to detail. My deepest alofa to my dissertation chair, Kumu ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui, who (among many other things) first noted the aural similarity between YALO and kalo/dalo, name of the beloved Oceanic staple which has fed our peoples throughout the ages. Fa’afetai tele lava for nourishing me throughout my academic journey, and especially while I navigated the crests and troughs of the waves along the shoreline during my dissertation work. Special thanks goes to my extended support network, including my cohort and other colleagues and mentors at UH-Mānoa. I would not have finished this dissertation in time without the support and accountability of our wonderful writing group. Thank you to my dear friends for giving me opportunities to take rejuvenating breaks over dinners and phone calls—here’s to i many, many more as we continue to celebrate life together. To my family, thank you for giving me the time and space that I needed to complete this degree. I’m looking forward to spending more time with all of you at this start of a new chapter. Most importantly, I acknowledge my eternal companion Vaughn, who has held many heavy things over the decade we have shared together. Of all of them, thank you for holding me through both tears and triumph. I promise that I will always strive to do the same. This work is completed thanks to you, but it is also for you and our ‘afakasi children, who will be the hope and promise of the future. When the time comes, may we teach them to teu le va through our examples. Finally, I would not have completed this dissertation without the breathtaking Zelda OSTs that kept me company throughout my toughest writing days, inspiring me through mornings of writer’s block and late nights of inadequacies. Music is surely a pathway to more expansive realms. ii ABSTRACT This dissertation draws on scholarship in the fields of Young Adult literature, Pacific literature, Indigenous education, and critical pedagogy in order to begin the process of defining, evaluating, and teaching literature targeted for adolescent readers in Oceania since the year 2000. Pasifika youth are a population at high risk for a variety of negative outcomes as a result of colonial structures of power that marginalize Indigenous peoples in Oceania, a condition compounded by sustained practices of diaspora and the effects of globalizing forces in the region that result in fragmented and mixed identities. I argue that in its ongoing emergence, Young Adult Literatures of Oceania (YALO) is uniquely positioned to intervene in these issues because in addition to being both developmentally appropriate and decolonial, as a mixed literature— belonging to both YA and Pacific literatures—it reflects the ‘afakasi subjectivities of the youth that it is meant to serve. Drawing on the frameworks of Albert Wendt’s vision for a New Oceania and Gloria Anzaldúa’s new mestiza, I theorize the concept of the new ‘afakasi, which expands the term’s primary meaning of “mixed race” to encompass all aspects of mixed identity. Using a new ‘afakasi framework that is sensitive to the multiple tensions negotiated by Pasifika youth, I illustrate how YALO texts provide useful models for negotiating conflicting identity. Three major ways that YALO participates in decolonial efforts are (1) through its literary representations of Pasifika adolescence, which portray these youth as intelligent, culturally competent, and powerful; (2) in its creative adaptations of Pacific stories and storytelling forms, which engage Oceanic youth with Indigenous histories and ways of knowing; and (3) via its legitimizing Pasifika intellectual production and encouraging Indigenous pedagogical practices in secondary schools. These functions have additional impacts on settler youth, who can be iii encouraged to develop settler allyship through engagement with YALO. In arguing for a sustained engagement with literature written for adolescents, my research begins to fill the need for scholarship in Pacific literary studies that attends to the needs of Pasifika youth, who are arguably one of the most marginalized groups in the region. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION: IN SEARCH OF A NEW ‘AFAKASI LITERATURE FOR OCEANIC YOUTH........................................................................................................................................... 1 Locating Young Adult Literature in Oceania .............................................................................. 1 Mapping YALO Studies.............................................................................................................. 3 Key Concepts and Methodology ................................................................................................. 9 Chapter Overview ..................................................................................................................... 18 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER ONE: GENEALOGY AND GENRE ........................................................................ 22 Defining YALO: An ‘Afakasi Genre ........................................................................................ 23 Young Adult literature ........................................................................................................... 23 Pacific Literature ................................................................................................................... 29 Young Adult Literatures of Oceania ..................................................................................... 36 Tracing the Emergence of YALO ............................................................................................. 40 The 1970s-1980s.................................................................................................................... 40 The 1990s .............................................................................................................................. 42 The 2000s .............................................................................................................................. 44 2010-present .......................................................................................................................... 47 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER TWO: REPRESENTATIONS OF ADOLESCENCE ............................................... 51 Representations of Adolescence and Adolescents in Oceania .................................................. 52 Representations of Adolescence and Adolescents in Literature ............................................... 56 Representations of Adolescence and Adolescents in YALO .................................................... 59 ‘Afakasi Racial and Cultural Identity .................................................................................... 59 Negotiating Diaspora: Place and Family ............................................................................... 69 Settler Youth as ‘Afakasi ......................................................................................................
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