Special Session Title:

"Lilo's O'hana: Mainland and Pacific children meet through media"

In light of the PAMLA drive to encourage works “Picturing Oceania and the Pacific," this special session seeks proposals that engage childhood representations of the Pacific through mass media.

This concept stems from US children in the "lower 48" learning about Pacific, especially Hawaiian, children through such venues as Lilo and Stitch, the 2005 bestselling Hawaiian language picture book "A is for Aloha," Nickelodeon's short-lived series "Rocket Power" and even the Brady Bunch special featuring a vacation to 1970s Honolulu, to name a few.

"Lilo's O'hana" will promote scholarship and discussion about cultural oversights generated by mass media outlets that seek to present a particular image of Hawaiian and Pacific culture through children's mass media.

Ideas for papers include, but are by no means limited to:

Lilo as quintessential Hawaiian Girl
Hawaiian language in children's and young adult mass media
"Jumping the Shark" and other sitcom Hawaiian adventures
Hawaiian/Pacific music in/as children's mass media
Literary portrayals of the Pacific for children

Please submit abstracts of 250 words with a list of sources to the PAMLA website listed in this ad by April 5, 2010.

All accepted presenters must join PAMLA for the 2010 year by May 1, 2010 at the very latest, and must pay for the conference itself by September 15, 2010 at the very latest.

Feel free to email Tiffany at PAMLA.Lilo.Ohana@gmail.com with any questions.