Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
English
Major Professor
Margaret Lazarus Dean
Committee Members
Michael Knight, Eleni Palis, Chris Hebert, Deborah Welsh
Abstract
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.
Recommended Citation
Rigg, Mariah Elizabeth, "(De)Touring Hawai'i Through Popular Media. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2025.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/12761
Included in
Fiction Commons, Hawaiian Studies Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Native American Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Polynesian Studies Commons