FAILING TO SURVIVE AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF AN ACCIDENTAL EDUCATOR 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 EDUCATION IN PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION PRACTICE June 2021 By Gregg Nakano Dissertation Committee: Deborah Zuercher, Chairperson Kealalokahi Losch Katherine Ratliffe Keywords: Existential Education, Experiential Learning, Climate Change Acknowledgements Praise be to God for creating this reality to explore. My lifelong thanks to my parents for being the doorway to my life. All my love to my family for giving me reasons to remain. If life is a book with many chapters, then completing a doctorate is one written with the encouragement, guidance and support of others. As my self-image is not defined by scholarship, I often found myself a stranger in a strange land in the University of Hawaii’s College of Education. Thus, my first expression of gratitude goes to Dr. Sarah Twomey for encouraging me to apply to the EdD program and start the journey once accepted. During Dr. Twomey’s tenure as EdD Director, Dr. Sachi Edwards, Dr. Veselina Lambrev and Dr. Amy Sojot provided welcome support in getting through the coursework. Deep thanks go to Dr. Lori Ideta and Dr. Walter Kahumoku III for providing the transformative leadership that made the EdD program sustainable and to Dr. Truc Nguyen for helping me identify multiple areas for future academic growth If education is defined by self-reflection, then I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my classmates for awakening me. Throughout our common course of study, discussions with fellow EdD cohort members were invaluable in testing, expanding and refining my assumed perceptions of reality and research priorities. A special note of thanks to Pumehana Silva, Poki’i Seto, Mapuana Hayashi-Simpliciano, Julie Mower, Alex Teece, Kamehamililani Waiau, Juliet Crane- Cory, Courtney Tsumoto, Roxanne Keliʻikipikāneokolohaka, Kona Keala-Quinabo and Kapolei Kiili. Of course the most difficult work of helping me craft, refine, polish and frame my research was provided by Dr. Deborah Zuercher, Dr. Kealalokahi Losch and Dr. Katherine Ratliffe. Their willingness to help me transform raw thoughts and findings into a coherent logic ii and narrative are the only reason my dissertation is readable. An especial thanks to Dr. Zuercher for inspiring me to share beyond my comfort zone and being endlessly patient as I did so. I can only hope to do the same for others in the future. Finally, as an autoethnography, my dissertation would be empty without the mentors, colleagues, friends and antagonists who have shaped my life chapters up to this point. While too numerous to include in toto, Maj Mike Edwards, LtCol Greg Murray, COL James Brown, Mike Monroe, Maria De la Fuente, Dr. Skip Burkle, Paul Hadik, CAPT Joe Hughart, Scott Paul and Dr. Eric Rasmussen stand out as mentors who led without moving and taught without speaking. Through their daily actions, each of them reflected the ideal that what you do and how you live are what define you. My hope is to honor all my teachers and supporters with this work. I only pray that my actions can match my words in the life chapters yet to be written. Most practically, my deep gratitude to Aunty Vi and Uncle Walter for providing me the refuge to hide away, think and write in peace. And finally, to my wife and two children, who gave me the will to carry on. iii Abstract The potential for humans to influence Earth’s climate was theorized by scientists like Svante Arrhenius as early as 1896. Yet, as late as 2020, political leaders, like the former President Donald Trump, and the people who follow them continue to doubt the possibility. With growing scientific evidence that human activities are degrading our planet’s ecosystem carrying capacity and creating a 6th mass extinction event (Naggs, 2017), the need to address climate change as a national security issue has become urgent. Our obligation to prepare the next generation for man-made climate change threats is recognized by teachers, students and parents alike. But while more than 80% of American teachers and parents believe that climate change should be taught in school, fewer than 60% of the teachers feel it falls within their classroom subject area (NPR, 2019). And without the additional personnel, funds and resources political recognition would bring, humanity’s accelerating climate crisis remains largely untaught. In 2016, I began creating Pacific ALLIES, an experiential service learning curriculum designed to teach students, cadets and midshipmen the climate change impacts on national security by transforming Kwajalein Atoll into a living sustainability laboratory. “Failing to Survive” constitutes my reflections on the research question: From an autoethnographic perspective, what were the critical turning points in my life that led me to develop Pacific ALLIES as a means of existential education with potential to prepare next generation leaders for the climate change challenges they will face in the 21st Century? My use of qualitative evocative autoethnography allowed the intentional self-reflection of past learning to provide a personal perspective on a shared cultural experience (Ellis, 2004) while personal conflicts and perceptual turning points in my life were used to examine and iv critique issues of larger social consequence (Jones et al., 2016). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943) provided my perceptual theoretical framework while Marcia’s (1980) framework for identity in adolescents provided a chronological roadmap to identify the metamorphic “phase changes” in my personal identity. My research found that my decision to create Pacific ALLIES was the result of four distinct identity transformations driven by internal struggles created by gaps between the norms I had been taught in school and the realities I was living as a Marine infantry and intelligence officer, international student in China and Iran, and disaster coordination officer for USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. More than a positivist offering of exemplary scholarship, “Failing to Survive” is an academic attempt to make an honest accounting of my life. In revisiting how many times I’ve failed my expectations of myself, I offer this study as a cautionary tale. My only hope is that as the reader identifies the many shortcomings in my research and life decisions, they will be reinvigorated to teach in a way that prepares the next generation for the climate change challenges we leave unsolved. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..……………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………….... iv List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………….. xi Chapter 1: Introduction ……………………………………………………………………. 1 Anticipated Significance of the Study ...……………………………………………1 Background Setting ……………………………………………………………….. 2 My Value of Existential Education ………………………………………………... 3 Preparing Next Generation Leaders for Climate Change Challenges……..………. 5 Autobiography Informs Autoethnography ………………………………………... 9 Becoming an Accidental Educator ………………………………………………... 9 Statement of the Research Problem ……………………………………………...... 11 Statement of the Research Purpose ………………………………………………...11 Statement of the Research Question ……………………………………………..... 11 Shortcomings, Liabilities and Limitations ………………………………………… 11 Time Scale ……………………………………………………………....… 12 Planetary Scope ………………………………………………………….... 14 Interdisciplinary Complexity ……………………………………………… 15 Shared Values ……………………………………………………………... 16 Existential Education’s Philosophical Challenge …………………………………. 18 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature ………………………………………………………. 22 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….. 22 Theoretical framework ……………………………………………………………. 24 Marcia ……………………………………………………………………... 25 Maslow ………………………………………………………………….… 29 Climate change as place-based and problem based education ………………....…. 30 Infrastructure ……………………………………………………………… 37 Disasters …………………………………………………………………... 42 Pandemics …………………………………………………………………. 44 Maslow’s gap …………………………………………………………….... 49 Me versus We ……………………………………………………………... 52 We = me …………………………………………………………………… 57 Why do we need a national security education for climate change? ……………… 61 Chapter 3: Methodology …………………………………………………………………... 69 Research Design: Qualitative Evocative Autoethnography ………………………. 69 Introduction to the term autoethnography ………………………………………… 70 Alignment of Autoethnography to the Research Question ……………………….. 75 Advantages of Autoethnography …………………………………….……. 75 Limitations of Autoethnography ……………………………………….…. 78 Role of the Autoethnographic Researcher ………………………………………... 79 vi Participant ………………………………………………………………… 81 Time and Space …………………………………………………………… 81 Place-based ………………………………………………………………... 82 Data Collection Procedure ………………………………………………………… 82 Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………… 83 Theoretical Framework ………………………………………………………….... 85 Chapter 4: Research Findings …………………………………………………………….. 86 Tongue of Fire ……………………………………………………………. 86 Beginning the Journey ……………………………………………………………. 89 Shooting Stars …………………………………………………………….. 90 Military Gypsies ………………………………………………………….. 92 Operating Instructions ……………………………………………………. 94 Origin Myths ……………………………………………………………… 97 Family Matter ……………………………………………………………... 98 Earning Worth ……………………………………………………………... 101 Warrior’s Spirit ……………………………………………………………. 104 No Place to Call Home …………………………………………………..... 107 Stage 1: Identify Foreclosed ………………………………………………………. 109 Searching for a