Academics
Alexander Dale Mawyer
Assistant Professor
Sociology and Anthropology
Phone 847-735-5255
E-mail mawyer@lakeforest.edu
Education
Ph.D. University of Chicago
M.A. University of Chicago
M.A. University of Hawai‘i—Manoa, in Pacific Islands Studies
B.A. Amherst College
Courses Taught
First Year Studies 186: Visible Chicago Perspectives of Place
Sociology and Anthropology 110: Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology
Sociology and Anthropology 189: City, Space and Place
Sociology and Anthropology 253: Family and Kinship
Sociology and Anthropology 246: Anthropology of Communication
Sociology and Anthropology 247: Anthropology Pacific Islands
Sociology and Anthropology 250: Anthropology of Globalization
Sociology and Anthropology 330: Truth, Lies and Secrets
Publications
2009. “Review Article: Gameworlds, Lifecraft and Warplay,” in New Media and Society, Volume 11, No. 4.
2008. “The Oceanic Drift in Polynesian Linguistics,” in Language & Communication, Volume 28, No. 4.
2006. Varua Tupu: New Writing and Art from French Polynesia. Frank Stewart, Kareva Mateata-Allain and Alexander Mawyer (Eds.). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
2005. “Pe ‘Ea Ke Rogorogo: Mangarevan Discourse Genres and Chthonic Philosophy” in The Renaca Papers: VI International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific, Frank Morin and Georgia Lee (Eds). Los Osos, CA: Bearsville Press.
1998. Moving Images of the Pacific Islands: A Guide to Films and Videos. Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Occasional Paper No. 41.
1998. “From Photons to Electrons: The Film Guide Moving Images of the Pacific Islands,” in The Contemporary Pacific, Volume 10, No. 2.
1997. “Illuminating Identity: A Review of the Hawaii International Film Festival” in Pacific Studies, Volume 20, No. 1.
Reviews
Forthcoming. Review of John Gascoigne Captain Cook: Voyager Between Worlds in Pacific Arts.
2010. Review of Brij V Lal and Vicki Luker Telling Pacific Lives: Prisms of Process in Pacific Affairs. Volume 83, No. 1.
2008. Review of Mansel G. Blackford Pathways to the Present: US Development and Its Consequences in the Pacific in Pacific Affairs. Volume 80, No. 4.
2006. Review of Samuel P. King and Randall W. Roth Broken Trust: Greed Mismanagement and Political Manipulation at America’s Largest Charitable Trust in Pacific Affairs. Volume 79, No. 3.
2006. Review of Julian Baggini Making Sense: Philosophy Behind The Headlines in Foundations of Political Theory. Http://www.political-theory.org.
2005. Review of Lawrence H. Miike’s Water and the Law in Hawai‘i in Pacific Affairs. Volume 78, No. 1.
2004. Review of Juri Mykkänen’s Inventing Politics: A New Political Anthropology of the Hawaiian Kingdom in Pacific Affairs. Volume 77, No. 3.
2002. Review of Jeff Marck’s Topics in Polynesian Linguistics in The Contemporary Pacific. Volume 14, No. 1.
1996. Review of Vilsoni Hereniko’s Woven Gods, Female Power and Clowns and Power in Rotuma in Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, Volume 8, No. 2.
Databases
The Mahele Database, including 30,000 documents and over 200,000 data fields at http://www.waihona.com/.
Moving Images of the Pacific Islands: An Internet Database, 2,300 entries of reviews, text, and Pacific film images served at http://www.hawaii.edu/oceanic/film.
Invited Lectures and Conference Papers
2009, February, Association Social Anthropology of Oceania, Ta-Va Time-Space. “Mangarevan Spacetime Regimes and Everyday Presence in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.”
2007, December, American Anthropology Association, Colonialism’s Other. “The Pearls, Politics and Persons of Others in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.”
2006, November, American Anthropology Association, Sovereignty from Above and Below: The Politics of Local Practices in International Institutions. “‘Psychopolitics’ and Nuclear State Fallout in the Gambier Islands.”
2006, October. Department of English, University of Hawai‘i. Moderator, Parau Hotu: Gender, Genre and Contemporary Tahitian Literature.
2006, August. American Psychological Association, Language & Subjectivity in Culture, Clinical work, & Narrative Psychology. “Discourse Genres and Subjective Stances.”
2005, November. American Anthropology Association, Vestiges of the History of Subdisciplinary Creation: the Development of Areal Linguistic Sciences. “The Oceanic Drift in Polynesian Linguistics.”
2004, September. 6th International Easter Island and the Pacific Conference. “Pe ‘Ea Ke Rogorogo: Mangarevan Discourse Genres and Chthonic Philosophy.”
2004, May. Annual University of Michigan, University of Chicago Graduate Student Conference in Linguistic Anthropology. “How Mangarevans Think, About Mana and Grammatical Possession For Instance.”
2003, November. American Anthropology Association, What’s Left of Ethnolinguistic Identity. “SpaceTimeNamePlace: Being Ma‘ohi as a Function of Chthonic Ontology and Epistemologies.”
2003, April. Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i, Colloquium. “SpaceTimeNamePlace: Being Ma‘ohi as a Function of Chthonic Ontologies and Epistemologies.”
2001, November. American Anthropology Association, Island Signs and Dialogic Identities: Linguistic Traces, Syncretic Pragmatics, and Ironic Ideologies. “TV Talk: Media Receptivity and the Production of Identities in French Polynesia.”
2001, November. American Anthropology Association, X-Pectation and Mass Mediation or the Production of the Televised American Spectacular. “The Real World of Reality TV” as Discussant.
2001, November. Oceania Revealed Symposium, Archives Panel. Discussant for Barry Barclay, Desoto Brown, Lowell Angel and Karen Peacock.
2001, November. 27th Hawaii International Film Festival, “Bounties, Beaches, Monsters and Maidens.”
2000, April. 2nd Annual University of Michigan, University of Chicago Graduate Student Conference in Linguistic Anthropology. “Between the Real and the Unreal: Bounties and Beaches.”
Interviews
2006, October. Hawai‘i Star-Bulletin. Topic, Contemporary Tahitian literature.
2006, October. Olelo: Hawai‘i Bibliovision. Topic, Contemporary Tahitian literature.
2006, September. Les Nouvelles. Topic, Release of a new study on Tahitian sexuality.
2006, August, Les Nouvelles. Topic, Contemporary Tahitian literature (in French).
2003, September, Tahiti Nui TV. Topic, Mangarevan language and research (in Mangarevan).
Professional Organizations
American Anthropological Association, Society for Linguistic Anthropology, Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania
Awards and Honors
Ka Palapala Po‘okela Excellence in Literature Award (for Varua Tupu), Hawai’i Book Publishers Association, 2007
Mark Hannah Watkins Dissertation Fellowship, 2004
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship, 2001
Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, 2001
Marion R. & Adolph J. Lichtstern Fund, 2001, 2004
Amherst Memorial Fellowship, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
Donald Pitken Prize, 1995
Steven Laurie Award, 1995