(De)Touring Hawai'i Through Popular Media

Under the United States’ colonization of Oceania, literature and media have been among the primary methods in both establishing and perpetuating American occupation of the Hawaiian Islands. This dissertation argues for the decolonization and deoccupation of Hawaiʻi in (American) popular culture, establishing a DeTour/tour continuum through which to read representations of the Hawaiian Islands in popular media. Through readings of film, television, famous persons such as Jason Momoa, contemporary poetry and novels, and the writer’s own creative work, this dissertation seeks to establish new avenues of existing in and reading representations of Hawaiʻi for both Hawaiians, locals to Hawaiʻi, and outsiders.