Marshallese Alumna Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner Opens UN Climate Summit With Poem

Click image for video

Click image for video.

EWC alumna Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a writer and performance artist from the Marshall Islands, was selected from more than 500 nominees to deliver a poem to world leaders on Sept. 23 at the opening of the UN Climate Summit in New York. Jetnil-Kijiner, who recently completed her EWC degree fellowship in Pacific Islands Studies, recited a new poem written for her daughter, “Dear Matafele Peinem.”

EWC featured in Island Pacific Energy commercial

East-West Center Facilities Manager Kris Thompson stars in this Island Pacific Energy commercial currently airing on prime time Hawai’i TV, which features the solar system the company designed for EWC. Great exposure for the Center, and an added bonus to a terrific system that allows EWC to reduce costs as well as its carbon footprint.

EWC Collaborates with UH on Ann Dunham Soetoro Endowment

S. Ann Dunham, East-West Center alumna

1973 student photo of Ann Dunham Soetoro, mother of President Barack Obama. From 1973-78, Dunham pursued her master’s and doctorate degrees in anthropology as an East-West Center grantee. Photo: East-West Center.

The East-West Center is pleased to be collaborating with the University of Hawai‘i Foundation and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to raise funds for student fellowships in honor of Ann Dunham Soetoro, the mother of President Barack Obama. The graduate degree fellowships will focus on Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, and are intended to perpetuate the kind of penetrating and insightful study of Indonesia that was exemplified by this distinguished alumna of the East-West Center and the University of Hawai‘i.

Click here more information on the Ann Dunham Soetoro Endowment, or here to view a video about the endowment.

Ann Dunham Soetoro was awarded East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowships from 1973 through 1978, for Master’s and Ph.D. studies in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i . Her thesis was based on her intense involvement with rural communities in Java where the challenges of development were particularly evident. Because of her premature death in 1995, Ann’s contributions might have been little recognized were it not for the election of her son as President of the United States. Since that time an edited version of her dissertation has been published by Duke University Press, edited by Alice Dewey and Nancy Cooper, bringing more attention to her remarkable career.

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Jefferson Hall Imin Center Murals Featured at Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Blog

Affandi: Wisdom of the East, 1967

Two of the most prominent and important works in the East-West Center’s permanent art collection ­– the large painted murals in the stairways of Jefferson Hall by the internationally renowned artists Jean Charlot and Affandi ­- have been featured at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Blog.

The blog features the animated video, Wisdoms of the East and West, created in 2010 by artist Ben Wood and puppeteer Michael Schuster to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the East-West Center in Honolulu Hawaii. The video is based on the flagship Charlot and Affandi murals in Imin Center-Jefferson Hall at the East West Center.

Links:

Watch an EWC Promotional Video from the late 60’s

A promotional film about the East-West Center, originally produced in 1968 and revised in 1971. This “period piece” features narration by the late James MacArthur (Danno on the original Hawaii 5-0 television show).

Titled “Bridge for the Pacific”, this promotional film features 5 EWC participants from the Institute for Student Interchange (ISI), the Institute for Advanced Projects (IAP), and the Institute for Technical Interchange (ITI) speaking about their personal adaptation to the international environment of the EWC.

The 5 EWC participants speaking in this film are:

  • Thi Chau Tran (Vietnam)
  • Abdul Rasul Asadi (Afganistan)
  • Sirowat Sirowan (Thailand)
  • Mabel Cecilia Burks and William V. Vitarelli (U.S.)

Produced, directed and filmed by George Tahara, Cine-Pic Hawaii. Written by Joseph Hurley with music by Barbara B. Smith. Posted by permission of the producer.

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New Asian TV series showcases EWC Grantee

TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) announced the global release of its latest Asian regional television series, Saving the Planet, www.savingtheplanet.tv. The six-episode series features outstanding efforts in education for sustainable development (ESD) in South and Southeast Asia.

The stories -– drawn from Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand — were all selected through competitive public nominations in 2007. Each 10 minute story is a self-contained documentary, filmed on location by a local film crew with the participation of local organizations whose work was being profiled.

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Secretary of State Clinton’s Asia Pacific Policy Address to be Streamed Live Online Jan. 12

Source: East-West Center News

HONOLULU (Jan. 10) — On Tuesday, Jan. 12, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a major policy address on the U.S. vision for Asia-Pacific multilateral engagement at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although attendance is by invitation only, the speech will be streamed live online at EastWestCenter.org at 2 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time.


Secretary Clinton’s address comes at the start of an eight-day Pacific trip that, in addition to Hawaii, will take her to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia.


The State Department has said that the East-West Center was chosen as the venue for Secretary Clinton’s policy address in commemoration of the 50th anniversary year of the Center’s founding by Congress to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States.


Links:

  • For more information on the Center’s history and 50th year commemorations, visit EastWestCenter.org

Dick Baker Interviewed About Democracy in Asia

EWC Adjunct Senior Fellow Dick Baker discusses current developments regarding democracy in Asia in a recent segment of the online video show ThinkTech Hawaii. Interviewed by Hawaii Pacific University Professor and Asia-Pacific columnist Bill Sharp, Baker discusses recent developments in Thailand, Indonesia and more.

[HVCA Democracy.flv]

ThinkTech Hawaii also features a variety of other video segments hosted by Sharp and focusing on Asia-Pacific issues.