Oral History Transcripts

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Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawai‘i

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The development of the Okinawan community in Hawai‘i is chronicled in articles and essays. Highlighted are life history narratives based on oral history interviews with first-generation Okinawans. Published by COH in cooperation with the United Okinawan Association of Hawai‘i. Distributed by the University of Hawai‘i Press. December 1981, 632 pages, photographs.

Browse full transcripts on ScholarSpace, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Book jacket of Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawai‘i. The background depicts Okinawa, with the traditional starvation food sotetsu (sago palm) symbolizing the poverty from which many immigrants hoped to escape. The foreground depicts Hawai‘i, with the sugar cane symbolizing both the successes and disappointments Okinawan immigrants found. The ocean and sky pattern is adapted from a traditional Okinawan textile design. (Art by Wesley Kanetake.)

Book jacket of Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawai‘i. The background depicts Okinawa, with the traditional starvation food sotetsu (sago palm) symbolizing the poverty from which many immigrants hoped to escape. The foreground depicts Hawai‘i, with the sugar cane symbolizing both the successes and disappointments Okinawan immigrants found. The ocean and sky pattern is adapted from a traditional Okinawan textile design. (Art by Wesley Kanetake.)