Oceanic Popular Culture Association Conference
Honolulu, HI
May 26-27, 2023
Chaminade University of Honolulu
We are delighted to announce the Keynote Speaker for the 2023 OPCA Conference is Bamboo Ridge author, Scott Kikkawa. He will be discussing his latest Hawai'i noir novel Char Siu!
2023 OPCA Conference Program
Friday, May 26, 2023
9:00 am to 2:00 pm--OPCA participants are invited to visit an exhibit of selected artworks from
Ē Luku Wale Ē: Devastation Upon Devastation, by Piliāmo‘o in Clarence T.C. Ching Hall, Room 211 on the Chaminade Campus.
12:30 pm – Conference check-in begins
(Ching Conference Center)
Light refreshments available
1:30 pm to 2:50 pm
Dialogic #1: Oceanic Intersections
(Eiben 201)
“Lessons learned? Examining The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert
S. McNamara in the context of Island Soldier and the legacy of militarism in the
Micronesia region”
Davis Rehuher, The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
“Kiana Davenport’s novel, Shark Dialogues, in conversation with Mike White’s HBO series, The White Lotus: Season 1: Indigenous Cultural Sovereignty and the Violence of Tourism’s Cultural Exploitation”
Jessica Maucione, Gonzaga University
3:00 pm to 4:20 pm
Dialogic #2: Challenging National Narratives
(Eiben 201)
“Mapping Lived Experiences: Ecological Research Methodologies”
Koreen Nakahodo, Chaminade University of Honolulu
“Hearing the Voiceless and Finding Freedom in the Works of Tayari Jones”
Angela Mullis, Rutgers University
Saturday, May 27, 2023
8:00 am–check-in
Light Breakfast available
(Ching Conference Center, Eiben Hall)
10:00 am to 11:50 am
What is Surfing? A Surf Studies Roundtable
(Hale Hoaloa 201 and via Zoom)
Jim Kraus, Chaminade University of Honolulu
Ugo Corte, University of Stavanger
Mindy Pennybacker, Journalist and Author
Patrick Moser, Drury University
12:00 pm to 1:50 pm
Keynote Address and Luncheon
“Behind the Rayon Curtain: Hawai‘i Noir and the Skeletons in Our Closet”
Scott Kikkawa, Author, Bamboo Ridge Press
(Ching Conference Center)
2:00 pm to 3:20 pm
Dialogic #4: Cryptozoology: Ways of (Un)knowing
(Eiben 201)
“Wetzel’s Riverside Bridge Monster and the Anomalous Santa Ana River”
Stanley Orr, University of Hawai‘i, West O‘ahu
“Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives– An Animal Behaviorist Reflects”
Mark Hanson, University of Hawai‘i, West O‘ahu
3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Dialogic #5: Pop Asia!
(Eiben 201)
“Past Perfect: The Pop Pacific in the Early 20th Century”
Pat Patterson, Honolulu Community College
“Voices of a Relationship Past: BTS and Japan”
Jayson Chun, University of Hawai‘i, West O‘ahu
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Conference Reception
Pupus and beverages
(Ching Conference Center, Eiben Hall)