How America’s Obsession With Hula Girls Almost Wrecked Hawai’i

Popularized images of female hula dancers have deviated far from their origins and perpetuated stereotypes.
Engraving of Hawaiian high chief Ka‘iana

When Hawaii Was Ruled by Shark-Like Gods

19th century Hawai‘i attracted traders, entrepreneurs, and capitalists, who displaced, a flourishing and elaborate culture.
Photo of a woman surfing

How Men Muscled Women Out of Surfing

Why is surfing still stuck in the 1960s when women have always done it?
Lili’uokalani, Queen of Hawaii, 1917.

The 1893 Hawaiian Coup and the Realities of American Expansion

To most 21st century Americans, Hawaii is a tropical paradise. But how that paradise became part of the United States is a long, complex, and often dark story.
People swimming along the Hawaiian coast.

My Whole Life Is Empty Without You

A necessarily abridged perspective of place in Hawai‘i.
Olympic surfer
partner

Centuries of U.S. Imperialism Made Surfing an Olympic Sport

With an eye toward U.S. power, Americans spread the sport making its Olympic debut.
Collage of images: UC Berkeley clocktower, professor Tim White in 1979, and a collection of boxes of human remains labeled as "clavicle, vertibrae," etc.

A Top UC Berkeley Professor Taught With Remains That May Include Dozens of Native Americans

Despite decades of Indigenous activism and resistance, UC Berkeley has failed to return the remains of thousands of Native Americans to tribes.
Photo of California gold fragment found by John Sutter in 1848

A Pacific Gold Rush

On the roads and seas miners traveled to reach gold in the United States and Australia.

Strikers, Scabs, and Sugar Mongers

How immigrant labor struggles shaped the Hawaii we know today.