RCGD Fall Seminar Series: Global Perspectives on Culture and Health (Susan Najita)
“Genealogics” of Place: Embodiment and Kaona in The Epic Tale of Hi‘iakaikapoliopele
RCGD Fall 2026 Seminar Series: Global Perspectives on Culture & Health, meets Mondays 3:30 to 5 at ISR Thompson 6050.
Susan Najita, University of Michigan
This paper explores the establishment of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park in the post-annexation period, two prominent newspaper serial publications of the saga of Pele, the goddess of the volcano, and her sister, Hi‘iaka, which reinvigorated connection to the place that would be brought under federal control. What can the tale--a repository for the sacred tradition of hula pele and its healing traditions-- tell us today, in this moment of eco-urgency, about relationships between bodies, mele (songs), and places?
Susan Najita is an associate professor of English and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her first book, Decolonizing Cultures in the Pacific, explored the ways that indigenous Pacific writers engage the traumatic history of colonization and empire. Her current project is entitled Genealogies of Place: Colonialism, Embodiment, and the Making of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
Global Perspectives on Culture and Health explores fundamental aspects of human life. Culture facilitates human interaction by providing meaning to lived experience. Accounting for culture in both theories and methods potentially advances the study of health by connecting the macro and micro levels of human experience. Yet, culture should be understood as dynamic and complex. It fundamentally shapes individuals and simultaneously is shaped by individuals. The importance of systematically attending to culture includes topics of values, language, immigration, and society.
Theories and methods that incorporate culture hold great potential for advancing the understanding of health outcomes and health trajectories in various global contexts.
The speakers for this series will focus on various aspects of culture and diverse groups living in the U.S. and across the globe to address the ways in which attending to culture helps clarify and overcome challenges to good health.
The Group Dynamics Seminar series is considered one of the longest running seminar series in the social sciences. It has been running uninterruptedly since it was founded by Kurt Lewin in the 1920’s in Berlin. The seminar series runs every semester on a theme chosen by faculty organizer/s who are affiliated with the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research. A very important feature of this seminar today is its interdisciplinary nature. Recent themes have included political polarization, evolution and human behavior, and cultural psychology.
In person: ISR Thompson 6050, unless otherwise specified.
Organized by Kristine Ajrouch and Sela Panapasa
Events are not recorded
Susan Najita, University of Michigan
This paper explores the establishment of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park in the post-annexation period, two prominent newspaper serial publications of the saga of Pele, the goddess of the volcano, and her sister, Hi‘iaka, which reinvigorated connection to the place that would be brought under federal control. What can the tale--a repository for the sacred tradition of hula pele and its healing traditions-- tell us today, in this moment of eco-urgency, about relationships between bodies, mele (songs), and places?
Susan Najita is an associate professor of English and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her first book, Decolonizing Cultures in the Pacific, explored the ways that indigenous Pacific writers engage the traumatic history of colonization and empire. Her current project is entitled Genealogies of Place: Colonialism, Embodiment, and the Making of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
Global Perspectives on Culture and Health explores fundamental aspects of human life. Culture facilitates human interaction by providing meaning to lived experience. Accounting for culture in both theories and methods potentially advances the study of health by connecting the macro and micro levels of human experience. Yet, culture should be understood as dynamic and complex. It fundamentally shapes individuals and simultaneously is shaped by individuals. The importance of systematically attending to culture includes topics of values, language, immigration, and society.
Theories and methods that incorporate culture hold great potential for advancing the understanding of health outcomes and health trajectories in various global contexts.
The speakers for this series will focus on various aspects of culture and diverse groups living in the U.S. and across the globe to address the ways in which attending to culture helps clarify and overcome challenges to good health.
The Group Dynamics Seminar series is considered one of the longest running seminar series in the social sciences. It has been running uninterruptedly since it was founded by Kurt Lewin in the 1920’s in Berlin. The seminar series runs every semester on a theme chosen by faculty organizer/s who are affiliated with the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research. A very important feature of this seminar today is its interdisciplinary nature. Recent themes have included political polarization, evolution and human behavior, and cultural psychology.
In person: ISR Thompson 6050, unless otherwise specified.
Organized by Kristine Ajrouch and Sela Panapasa
Events are not recorded
| Building: | Institute For Social Research |
|---|---|
| Event Type: | Workshop / Seminar |
| Tags: | Culture, Global Engagement, Health & Wellness, Research, Social Science Research |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD), Institute for Social Research, Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies |
