Dr. J. Uluwehi Hopkins is going to give a lecture about "Hawai’i and America – From Communal Abundance to Commodity" as part of the lecture course “Die Aufteilung der Erde – Eine Imperialismusgeschichte“.

Waikiki, mythologized today as every tourist’s dream destination, was once a well-watered agricultural landscape capable of sustaining thousands.The Moana Hotel, featured in this photograph, was first built in 1901, and its presence ushered in the slow but sure destruction of the many taro patches seen in the background. Today, the residents of Hawai’i rely heavily on imported food while their main economy is tourism. This talk will focus on this destructive transition that turned Hawai’i away from self-sustaining communities to becoming a commodity of the exotic imagination.