This introductory course explores the Pacific Ocean as a region of historical inquiry. With a strong viewpoint from the Pacific Islands, this course interrogates long held notions of the Pacific as a vast empty space, emphasizes the Indigenous Pacific, charts the rise of imperial powers, and follows the paths of Indigenous peoples, labor migrants, merchants, scientists, militaries, and tourists, among other historical actors. This course will cover the topics of race and indigeneity, gender and sexuality, militarism and tourism, and the environment, as well as colonialism, imperialism, and decolonization. Taking an expansive definition of historical text to account for the ways Indigenous peoples and migrants understand history, this course will include poetry, song, fiction, film, art, objects, and oral and living histories, and will explore varied methods and frameworks in the discipline of history. |