Photo from Isabella Makino
Isabella Makino uses her summer research project to connect Hawaiʻi’s younger generations to the islands’ history
For senior English literature major Isabella Makino, her summer research project is more than just the result of a few months of investigation. It’s a deep dive into Hawaiʻi’s history and culture, and an exploration of her own place in that.
From May to August, Makino interviewed relatives and other community members in Hawaiʻi who are part of the last generation of plantation workers. She also looked into the history of plantations in the islands, and conducted research through Hawaiʻi’s Plantation Village, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi, and the UH Mānoa libraries and press.
Makino explains, “I did research for a book project for our University Press. We knew we wanted a book and we wanted it centered in Hawaiʻi, but I didn’t exactly know what aspect of that, and so my summer research was basically finding the direction for it and researching more.”
Spending time with her grandmother this past summer and hearing stories of her life helped inspire Makino’s direction, which focuses on “the last generation that lived on the plantations in Hawaii and their experiences.” Aided by Dr. Kathlene Postma, who advised her and has helped guide her through the process of creating this book, Makino is working towards a piece that will be, “creative nonfiction” and tell real life stories of individuals from that generation in an engaging way.
As she continues working on this book, Makino tentatively intends to have it published by the end of the school year. She also aims to diversify the perspectives it contains. “Right now I feel like it’s been very focused on, like, Japanese American experiences, but I really hope to get a wide variety because there’s so much cultural differences.” she explains.
When published, Makino hopes to connect younger generations from Hawaiʻi with an important part of the islands’ plantation history in a way that they rarely get to experience. “I feel like a lot of people aren’t, or at least in my experience, aren’t connected to it in a way that’s meaningful for them, so hopefully that’s what the book can do. A lot of the things we see in Hawaii or take for granted kind of come from that background, but a lot of it I wouldn’t have realized without researching it.”
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