Top of page
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
This post is an excerpt of an interview with Lola Quan Bautista, Associate Professor of Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, about her and her team's 2023 American Folklife Center Community Collections Grant project, Celebrating CHamoru Nobenas.
Posted in: AFC Awards, Fieldwork, Pacific Islands Americans, Religion
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
The following is a guest blog post by Andrew Huber, a liaison specialist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). The idea of an event focusing on collecting stories from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) veterans all stemmed from a simple question asked during a VHP workshop in 2020. I was teaching …
Posted in: Asian American History, Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, Cultural Heritage, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Narratives, Oral History, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
Below is an excerpt from an interview by Folklife Specialist Guha Shankar with Community Collections Grant recipient Mark “Boots” Lupenui entitled, “Heirloom Songs” from Kohala, Hawai’i: Documenting a Fragile Musical Legacy, as part of a series on the Library’s Of the People blog featuring the 2022 awardees of the AFC’s Community Collections Grants program. The …
Posted in: AFC Awards, Fieldwork, Folk Music, Hawaiian Americans, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Staff at the American Folklife Center continue to use new digital tools to support remote discovery and access for our resources by users of all kinds. Whether you are a community scholar, a teacher, an academic researcher, a creative artist, or a curious consumer of local culture we hope that our geographically-oriented research guides offer …
Posted in: AFC Publications, Geographical Guides, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans, Puerto Rican Americans
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Japanese agricultural workers began immigrating to Hawai`i in 1868, primarily to work on sugar plantations. This immigration peaked in the late 19th century. At this time the population of Native Hawaiians was crashing. As Hawaiians had more contact with Europeans they contracted diseases that they had no immunity to. Sugar plantations, mainly owned by American …
Posted in: Asian American History, Folksong, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
This blog post is part of a series called “Hidden Folklorists,” which examines the folklore work of surprising people, including people better known for other pursuits. King David Kalākaua (1836 – 1891) is often known outside of Hawai’i by his nickname, the Merrie Monarch, so-called for his patronage of Hawaiian music, dance, and culture. He …
Posted in: Hawaiian Americans, Hidden Folklorists, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
At the time that turned the heat of the earth, At the time when the heavens turned and changed, At the time when the light of the sun was subdued To cause light to break forth, At the time of the night of Makalii (winter) Then began the slime which established the earth, The source …
Posted in: Folksong, Hawaiian Americans, Languages and Dialects, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
The following is a guest blog post by Andrew Huber, Liaison Specialist for the Veterans History Project (VHP). Throughout the month of May, we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, and remember the contributions made by people of Asian Pacific descent. Those contributions are numerous, from Duke Kahanamoku, who brought the sport of surfing …
Posted in: Asian American History, Cultural Heritage, Narratives, Oral History, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans, Photographs, Storytelling, Veterans History Project, World War II
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Note: This is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! April 29 is International Dance Day, established by the International Dance Council (CID) in 1982 to call attention to the importance of dance worldwide. So get your dances …
Posted in: AFC 40th Anniversary, AFC Events, African Americans, Asian American History, Dance, Homegrown Concert Series, Native American History, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans