Reframing the Pacific
Two essays on how colonial accounts, tourism media, and material culture shaped Western views of Rapa Nui and Hawai‘i.
Rapa Nui: The Lost People
2024 · Published in USC’s Pacific Postcards
An 1869 account from Macmillan’s Magazine, read for what it shows about colonial encounters, displacement, and who tells Rapa Nui’s history.
Read the published essay (opens in a new tab)Hawaii: A Portrayal of Paradise
2024
How LIFE magazine’s 1959 Hawai‘i issue sold an image of paradise through the bikini, the Aloha shirt, and surfing, and how that imagery reached California beach culture.
Read the essay (PDF) (opens in a new tab)