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Brown Bag Biography: Finding Light through Obscured ‘Ōiwi Labor

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Speaker: Travis D. Hancock, Independent historian Date: March 12 Title: Finding Light through Obscured ‘Ōiwi Labor: Lessons from the Partial Eclipse of 1893 Based in Pālolo, Travis D. Hancock is an independent historian, with a Ph.D. in History from the University of Utah, and M.A. in American Studies from the University of Hawai‘i at ����ԴDz�. His scholarship has appeared in the Hawaiian Journal of History and Pacific Historical Review. Additionally, he serves as the curator of Washington Place, home of Queen Lili‘uokalani and present residence of the state governor. This talk highlights illustrative moments from Dr. Hancock’s research and writing about little-known Native Hawaiian laborers who lived through the monarchy's overthrow of 1893. Specifically, he focuses on the story of a Native Hawaiian land surveyor who worked with pro-annexation white men to track a solar eclipse in October 1893. Through this anecdote, he makes the case that dynamic models of ‘Ōiwi survivance abound outside the political binary of settler violence and Native resistance that often "eclipses" the period's messy, gray areas in which many made their lives. He will share a few methods and fragmented mo‘olelo through which he’s tried to shed light on the restorative power of seeing the fuller reality. Finally, he delves into what it means, or can mean, to do this work as a settler scholar.

Event Sponsor
Center for Biographical Research, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Carson Compos, 8089563774, brownbag@hawaii.edu