UHM Center for Pacific Islands Studies | CPIS

Julianne Walsh

 

Julianne Walsh

Associate Specialist
PhD University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2003)

Moore Hall 211
jwalsh@hawaii.edu
(808) 956-2668

Julianne (Julie) Walsh joined the Center in 2008 as a curriculum specialist to focus on the development of the undergraduate program in Pacific Islands Studies. Dr Walsh holds degrees in cultural anthropology from Louisiana State University (MA 1995) and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (PhD 2003). Dr Walsh is committed to increasing cross-cultural awareness by applying anthropological knowledge in the public realm. To that end, in 2000, with Marshallese colleagues, she cofounded a nonprofit organization (Small Island Networks) to offer skills-training opportunities for Marshallese migrants and cultural orientations for Hawai’i service providers. She has developed resources for Hawai’i teachers, and worked with Hawaii DOE teachers on 7th grade Pacific Islands Studies Curriculum standards. She is particularly interested in interactive digital resources and empowering communities and students to create and share their stories. She has worked closely with Marshallese communities in Hawaii and is a founding member of the Marshallese Education Day Committee. She pursues scholarship that engages Marshallese perspectives and histories. Dr Walsh coauthored a history of the Marshall Islands for the RMI Ministry of Education, and has served in various institutions in the Marshalls: the College of the Marshall Islands, Alele Museum, the Historic Preservation Office, Assumption Schools, and the Ministry of Education (where she facilitated the development of the ministry’s five-year strategic plan, 2006–2011). Dr. Walsh teaches the core PACS class in public policy and community development. She serves as the undergraduate student advisor, service-learning coordinator, assessment coordinator, and Teaching Oceania founding editor in addition to serving on MA student committees and chairing the curriculum committee. She also served as Reviews Editor for The Contemporary Pacific from Spring 2007- Spring 2012.

Dr Walsh’s research interests include Marshallese models of leadership and authority, RMI-US relations, Marshallese histories, Micronesian traditions and politics, Compact migrant experiences, RMI-US adoptions, indigenizing education, and public anthropology.

Teaching Areas and Interests

High-impact pedagogies
Service-learning
Writing Intensive and Ethics Focus courses
Ethical research and community engagements

Research Areas and Interests

RMI-US relations
Compact of Free Association (COFA)
COFA migrants’ experiences and Hawai`i policy
American adoptions of Marshallese children
Micronesian traditions and politics
Marshallese histories
Public Anthropology

Selected Works

  • 2012   “Pacific Places.” Curriculum unit for Hawaii State 7th grade teachers. Contributor. Available at: http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/resources_7.html
  • 2006   Book review (with Hilda Heine): Life in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Majuro: USP Center; Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, USP). The Contemporary Pacific 18:453-456.
  • 2006   Chapter revision: “Marshall Islands.” In Pacific Nations and Territories, by Reilly Ridgell, 118-127. Honolulu: Bess Press.
  • 2005   Encyclopedia article: “Marshall Islands.” In The New Book of Knowledge: Reference for the 21st Century, 112-113. New York: Grolier.
  • 2004   Book review: Marshall Islands Legends and Stories, collected and edited by Daniel A. Kelin II and illustrated by Nashton T. Nashon (Honolulu: Bess Press, 2003). In Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 18 (1): 110-113.
  • 2003   Imagining the Marshalls: Chiefs, Traditions, and the State on the Fringes of the U.S. Empire. Dissertation.
  • 2000   Political Review of the Marshall Islands, July 1998 through June 1999. The Contemporary Pacific 12:204-211.
  • 1999   Janet Bell award-winning adoption article: Adoption and Agency: American Adoptions of Marshallese Children.
  • 2016 –present Teaching Oceania iBooks series, Founding Editor. Digital texts for Pacific Islands Studies.
    • Militarism and Nuclear Testing in the Pacific (Vol. 1); Gender in the Pacific (Vol. 2); Health and Environment in the Pacific (Vol. 3)
  • 2013. Film Review. “Land of Eb”. The Contemporary Pacific. 26:1.
  • 2012 Etto nan Raan Kein: A Marshall Islands History. Honolulu: Bess Press. 526 pp. 9th grade textbook.
  • 2012 “Pacific Places” Curriculum Unit for Hawaii State 7th grade teachers. Contributor. Available at: http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/resources_7.html Including, “Pacific Islands Economies.” Illustrator. Center for Pacific Islands Studies. Download PDF.
  • 2007-2012 The Contemporary Pacific Books and Media Reviews Editor. 19:2 – 24:1.
  • 2008 Public Broadcasting Service. Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? Part 4 (episode 6) “Collateral Damage” Documentary. Interviewed May 2006. Aired nationally on PBS in April 2008. http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/

Recent and Current Projects

  • 2018 Civil Beat Offshore podcast: Season Three: “The Blood Calls”, Interviewed and excerpted in multiple segments in the 8 segment (30 minutes each) series on adoptions of Marshallese children, and the meanings of home. http://offshorepodcast.org/
  • 2017 January 3 Distance education lecture to Guam Department of Education teachers regarding motivations, processes, goals, and software toward the production of digital texts. Eloise Sanchez, DOE organizer.
  • 2016 Co-Convener, Teaching Oceania Workshop February 16-17 Coordinated with CPIS faculty and other co-sponsors to organize and draft introductory digital resources as iBooks.
  • 2015-2018 Hawaii State Department of Education 7th grade Pacific Islands Studies standards and curricular revision content lead with DOE teachers.
  • 2015 “No Textbooks? Make your own! Exploring Digital Textbook Creation for Teachers and Students”. Pacific Educators’ Conference. Majuro, Marshall Islands. July 27-August 3.
  • 2015 “Adoption (Under) Currents: Domestic Drift in the Adoption of Marshallese Children by Americans” Human Trafficking in Asia and the Pacific Symposium. January 16, 2015. Sponsored by Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
  • 2015 April 15, 2015 University of Hawaii, West O`ahu, “Prejudice and Pedagogy: Student Reflections on Service Learning in ‘Micronesian’ Communities”.
  • 2014 “Travelling, Anchoring: Shared and Place-based Approaches to Pacific Studies.” Australian Association of Pacific Studies conference at the University of Sydney, 22–26 April 2014.
  • 2014 Hawaii Public RadioHawai’i Early Intervention Program Helps Thousands of Disabled Children by Wayne Yoshioka December 16, 2014. http://hpr2.org/post/hawaii-early-intervention-program-helps-thousands-disabled-children
  • 2014 “Oceania Connecting: Connecting Pacific Islander Immigrant Groups with Local Communities” 17th Annual Continuums of Service conference, Honolulu, HI. April 2, 2014. With Ulla Hasager, Kat Lobendahn, and Kanaloa Shrader.
  • 2014 “Ethnic Tensions in Hawaiʻi” Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania. Kona, HI 8 Februrary. Co-organizer with Joseph Genz.
  • 2013 “Implementing Cultural Competency in Mental Health Service Delivery for Micronesian Populations with Implications of Other Multicultural Communities.” American Psychological Association Conference, July 31 – August 4, 2013. Panel Presentation on August 2, 2013.
  • Teaching Oceania Series Vol 5: Climate Change in RMIRMI photo archive