Beyond rainbows

what Hawaii's "local" poetry has taught me about pedagogy

Morris Young

pp. 105-125

in: Joan Retallack, Juliana Spahr (eds), Poetry & pedagogy, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

Abstract

As a graduate student in Ann Arbor in the 1990s, I found myself often writing about Hawai"i: its literature, the students, the place. As a Local, someone who was born and raised in Hawai"i and who uses this designator of community identity, I wanted to keep alive the possibility that I might return there one day and work with the students, literature, and writers who I focused on for the many seminar papers, conference presentations, and eventually dissertation that I wrote. But beyond this longing to maintain a connection to Hawai"i, I also began to see in its Local literature lessons about learning and teaching, theories about pedagogy, and stories about students and teachers. I saw in these writings a connection to Hawai"i's students, a connection between a Local teacher and Local students, and a possibility for a pedagogy that could move beyond initiating students into dominant American discourse and toward a more productive engagement with their community.