Atheena Keanani Arasoo - (Un)pacific Relations: Imperial Divisions between Native Hawaiians and Micronesians in Hawaiʻi

This thesis argues that despite longstanding cultural and historical connections between Native Hawaiians and Micronesians, a history of imperialism in Hawaiʻi – the research considers cultural, economic, and political aspects of U.S. empire in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific – has shaped ongoing racial and xenophobic tensions directed from Native Hawaiians to Micronesians within the Hawaiian Islands. While this thesis discusses connections to theories of migration, race, sovereignty, settler colonialism, and empire on the U.S. continent, the highly specific context of Hawaiʻi and Micronesian free association agreements with the U.S. emphasizes the significance of a project that centers on two groups of indigenous peoples who have been heavily underrepresented in literatures about migration and empire.

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