Gender Identity and Sexual Identity in the Pacific and Hawai'i: Select Resources

Article in Bulletin de la Societe des Etudes Oceaniennes, volume 7 (72) pp. 35.

Article in Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, volume 11 pp. 147-9.

Available at multiple UH Libraries.
This book contains the work of seven leading anthropologists on the subject of ritualized homosexuality, and it marks the first time that anthropologists have systematically studied cross-cultural variations in homosexual behavior in a non-Western culture area. The book as a whole indicates that contemporary theories of sex and gender development need revision in light of the Melanesian findings.

Available for request/consultation at UHM Library Pacific Collection.

Available for request/consult at UHM Library Pacific Collection.
Paper prepared for the Women's Study Association of New Zealand 1990 conference.

Article in American Ethnologist, volume 19, pp. 443-59

Article in American Ethnologist volume 22(4) pp. 848-67.

Available at multiple UH Libraries.
In Gays and Lesbians in Asia and the Pacific, people share their unique experiences of the gay and lesbian communities and available social services. Unlike previous writings on homosexuality in the region, written by Westerners, this book offers new perspectives from insiders of the cultures who speak from their own lived experiences.

Article in Ethnos, vol.ume 62 (1/2), pp. 5-31.

Chapter in Female Desires: Same-Sex Relations and Transgender Practices Across Cultures, pp. 232-52.

Available at UHM Wong AV Center.
An exploration of the Samoan faʻafafine, boys who are raised as girls, fulfilling a traditional role in Samoan culture. Today's faʻafafines are becoming more westernized and look more like drag queens. Dance has always been an important part of Samoan culture. From an early age, the faʻafafines dance the female role, and many continue to dance as entertainers in nightclubs. Several anthropologists, including Derek Freeman and Tom Pollard, comment on the phenomenon. Paradise Bent brings up issues of culture and gender and the complexities of sexual identity.

Article in Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures. pp. 563-565.

Article: "Transvestism (transgenderism)," pp. 416-417.

Available electronically to UHM faculty, students and staff.
Print copy available for request/consultation at UHM Pacific Collection.
This is an ethnohistory of the Asian and Pacific Islander lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people's (APLBT) movement of San Francisco and its origins in the race, class, gender and sexuality conflicts of the social movements of the 1960s. This study is based on qualitative interviews of community activists and a critical review of historical documents of the Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, Latino, Native American and white civil rights, community empowerment, women's and queer movements.

Available electronically to UHM faculty, students, and staff.
Print copy available for request/consultation at UHM Library Pacific Collection.

Article in American Ethnologist, volume 29(3) pp. 534-566.

Available to request/consult at the UHM Pacific Collection.
This book provides a wealth of information about a variety of male and female homosexual roles in societies of Pacific islands (Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines), aboriginal Australia and Siberia, plus Korea and Indonesia. Murray shows recurrent patterning and provides suggestions of how sociocultural patterning of homosexual relations fit with other kinds of sociocultural structurings.

Available for request/consultation at UHM Pacific Collection.

Chapter in Speaking in queer tongues : globalization and gay language.

Available for request/consultation at the UHM Library Pacific Collection.
About the Kwermin people living in the Mountain Ok sphere of Papua New Guinea. Its focus is on Kwermin notions of how proper social persons are produced, and the similarity and recurrence of certain themes, referred to as 'sequences of growth', in both origin myths and rituals of initiation.

Article in Anthropologicia, volume 45(2) pp. 233-244.

Article in the archived version of "glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture."

Article in The Contemporary Pacific, volume 16(2): pp. 358-66.

Videos available free online.
From the now defunct show by the same name the web site says it was "world's first indigenous gay, lesbian and transgender series." All three episodes are on-line

Article in Ethnology, volume 44(4) pp. 313-336.

Article in The Contemporary Pacific, volume 20(1): pp. 163-89.

Available at multiple UH Library locations.
Sexuality and the Stories of Indigenous People is a collection of 17 essays that explore aspects of being takatapui. The traditional meaning of takatapui is 'an intimate companion of the same sex', but it's become synonymous with Maori who are non-heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transsexual or queer. The collection contains personal stories, poetry and insightful discussions about constructions of sexuality, gender and identity. It identifies the effects of colonisation, and explores perceptions of Maori sexuality.

Chapter in "The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies," pp. 40-52.
Drawing on historic and current data, James Neill asserts that, historically, human sexuality has been ambiguous, and that very few humans are, by nature, exclusively homosexual or heterosexual.

Video available free online.
Interview with Shigeyuki Kihara Fa’fafine artist.

Article in Journal of Law & Society, volume 37(4) pp: 651-677.

Available at the UHM Library Pacific Collection.
Migrating Genders presents a sustained description of male-to-female transgendered identities, explaining how the fa'afafine fit within the wider gender system of Samoa, and examining both the impact of Westernization on fa'afafine identities and lives, and the experiences of fa'afafine who have migrated to New Zealand. Informed by theories of sex, gender and embodiment, this book explores the manner in which the expression and understanding of non-normative gendered identities in Samoa problematizes dominant western understandings of the relationship between sex and gender. Drawing on rich empirical material, this book tells of both the diversity and the uniqueness of fa'afafine identities, aspects which fa'afafine have maintained in the face of Westernization, migration, and cultural marginalization in both Samoa and New Zealand. As such, in addition to anthropologists, it will be of interest to geographers, sociologists, and other readers with interests in gender and sexuality.

Available at multiple UH Library locations.
Transgender identities and other forms of gender and sexuality that transcend the normative pose important questions about society, culture, politics, and history. They force us to Question, for example, the forces that divide humanity into two gender categories and render them necessary, inevitable, and natural.

Article in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, volume 17(3-4) pp: 287-304.

Volume 2 of Teaching Oceania series, edited by Monica LaBriola.

Available at various UH Library locations.

Article in Feminist Studies, volume 15 (2): pp. 313-326.

Article in Journal of homosexuality, volume 19(4) pp. 21-54.

Available at various UH library locations

Available from various UHM Library locations.

Article in Anthropos, volume 93(1/3) pp: 55–75.

Video available at various UH Library locations.
Contrasts the diversity of gender and sexual practices in precolonial times with the stigmatization and marginalization of transgendered and gay people in Hawaiʻi today. Relates how colonialism transformed Kanaka Maoli (indigenous Hawaiian) society and changed what forms of love are considered acceptable. (a clip is available free here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3mPwO7OHv8)

Available from various UH Library locations.
This book is an anthology of spoken narratives collected from male-to-female transgendered people who live on the island of Oʻahu. In this book, people who identify as "mahu" (the local term for a transgendered person), transsexual, and/or drag queen tell their stories and address the issues important in their lives.

Article in Pacific Health Dialog, volume 8 (2) pp: 327–334.

Chapter in Pacific diaspora : island peoples in the United States and across the Pacific.

Chapter: "The māhū of Hawaiʻi" by Robertson, Carolina E.

Article in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, volume 8 (1-2) pp. 207–225.

E-access for UHM students, faculty and staff.
Print copy Library Use Only - Request at UHM Hawaiian Collection.

Article in Journal of Homosexuality, volume 51(3) pp: 225–247.

Article in Pacific Studies, volume 30(1) pp: 159–181.

Article in AIDS Education and Prevention, volume 20(6) pp: 558–569.

Article in Journal of GLBT Family Studies, volume 7(5) pp. 424 -435.

Video and other resources available free online.
The true story of a young girl in Hawaiʻi who dreams of leading the boys-only hula group at her school, and a teacher who empowers her through traditional culture.