Excerpts from
P A C I F I C _ P O S T M O D E R N
by Rob Wilson 2000 $5 [out of print but available here]
Designed by K.C. Mah
From the Sublime to the Devious,
Writing the Experimental/Local Pacific in Hawai`i

Caught up in these pro-tourism, anti-local dilemmas, Hawai`i not only hosted the 1998 Miss Universe Pageant, in effect it became Miss Universe, saying to the global market (reached by telecast to 70 countries around the world), "Visit me, love me, gaze upon me, I am yours and waiting with open arms in the spectacular Pacific." Like Bloody Mary in the cold war musical, South Pacific, Hawai`i was singing the seductress song of Bali Hai to the tourist gaze, "Come to me, I am your own special island."

Rob Wilson taught at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa for many years, before moving to UC Santa Cruz.  Among his many other books is the recent Reimagining the American Pacific: from South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond (Duke UP, 2000).