It started on Wednesday afternoon, and went all day on Thursday and Friday. I've barely had time to sit and write since then...mostly because I've met a lot of great people, and so I've actually been socializing. That's a new thing for me.
The "orientation" on Wednesday was only for first-time attendees and some long-time "mentor" members to get to know each other. One of the first things that the host said was that this group is the fun historians. His words have held true. I can honestly say, this is the least stuffy "professional" conference I've ever been to...and I kind of like it.
What I love most about it is that the WHA is not limited to college-level educators and historians. There are public middle school teachers here. There are community college teachers here. And at the same time, there are world-class historians here who have published multiple books that are used in classrooms across academia. But everybody is just plain real. There's no snooty professors who think they're too good to talk to the grad students, or book authors who are posed to refute anyone who even slightly disagrees with them. This is, by far, the most comfortable bunch I've experienced.
Consequently, I've had more conversations with people I just met than I have at any other conference, ever. Everyone here is just so friendly and ready to learn more. I love that!
Granted, a lot of the scholarship still isn't where it should be when it comes to indigenous perspectives, but the way I figure it, that's why I'm here. That's become one of my kuleana.
On that note, I gave my presentation today. It was titled "Pacific Explorations, Again: Reclaiming Ancient Routes between Polynesia and South America." Basically, I highlighted our voyaging gods, chiefs, and histories to show that we were well capable of sailing to the Americas. Then I used place names along the western coast to suggest that we did, in fact, sail there. Then, I did an interview with one of the Pwo navigators, Chad Babayan, and asked him all kinds of practical questions about sailing, to once again strengthen the argument that we went there.
Everyone was very impressed. I got a lot of compliments, and a lot of "are you publishing a paper on this," and "I can't wait to read the book!" I also got some help with my theories...
In my presentation, I point out a few place names along the western coastline. One is Puna island off the coast of Ecuador. I told them what Puna means in Hawaiian (water source, but also figuratively, knowledge source), and afterwards I had someone come up to me and say that the island is indeed at the mouth of a river.
I also speculated that the Ica region of Peru is intriguing, because it is located along the coast, and the word ika means fish in most Polynesian languages. Afterwards I was told that this region, Ica, is one of the best fishing regions in the world.
Coincidence? or Contact?
Anyway, this conference was well worth the trip. It was so well-planned; there were only four panel sessions throughout each day, with half hour breaks in between. This schedule was so great, because if you've ever been to a conference before, you're usually kinda beat and too full of new info by the third panel. So it was nice to only have four per day, and lots of time in between to rest and process.
Plus, this hotel is simply fabulous. I'll post pictures later.
Anyway, I've made a lot of contacts, and got myself networked (I am soooo not a schmoozer, so this whole making an effort to network thing is very new to me and still an uncomfortable activity). I can say with absolute certainty that this conference was so worth it.
Tomorrow we have another tour, which leaves at 6 a.m. so I've got to wrap this up. More to follow when I can!
Aloha!
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