A new project at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a meeting of minds around a political shift affecting islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean.
The "1898 Project" is a series of events, including a summit that starts Thursday. Organizers expect hundreds of people to participate in the breakout sessions and conversations about topics of imperialism and decolonization.
This local project was in part spurred by a much larger exhibition that took place in Washington, D.C., called "1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions." It was the first time an oil portrait of Hawaiʻi’s last reigning monarch, Queen Liliʻuokalani, left ʻIolani Palace to travel across the Pacific Ocean. The national exhibit closed in February and the portrait has since been returned to Hawaiʻi.
Hawaiʻi resident Meleanna Meyer visited the National Portrait Gallery when the exhibition was on display. She said the conversations around it were what sparked inspiration for the upcoming "1898 Project."
"The fact that we are doing something in terms of having these two days to talk about '1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions' is the start of something," Meyer explained. "So much good work has been done. So we're just adding to the larger conversation of clarity and educating the public and others about the real history for all of these places."
Tom Coffman, a local filmmaker and author who contributed to the national portraits exhibit, said the event this weekend will cover several topics that organizers feel have resurfaced over the years, such as militarization and federal government expropriation.
"We're also bringing together scholars from Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, as well as numerous scholars from Hawaiʻi," Coffman said.
"What we found when we bring people together, making connections and the conversation immediately becomes lively. We've worked this enough that we are really anticipating what happens when we get a much larger dialogue and conversation going as we're going into this weekend," he said.
The two-day summit will be Saturday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UHM.
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This story aired on The Conversation on April 10, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
Editor's note: Catherine Cruz is a project convener for this event.
