The early morning sounds of Chinatown can be heard outside the closed doors of Native Books Hawai'i as Noah Dolim settles himself into a chair ahead of his Scholar of the Month talk story. 

Noah Dolim is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. He earned his AA from Hawai'i Community College, BA from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (History, 2014), and MA from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (History, 2017). He then continued on to receive his PhD from the University of California, Irvine (History, 2023). Dolim’s primary area of study is nineteenth-century Hawaiian History.

Venus: Good Morning, I’m Venus. I’m a book seller here at Native Books and today I’m here with our October scholar of the month, Noah Dolim. 

Noah: Hi, my name is Noah Hanohano Dolim and I’m an assistant professor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. And my primary specialty, both research and teaching, is nineteenth century Hawai'i the Hawaiian Kingdom era.

Venus: Thank you. And Thank you again for being our scholar of the month for October. You’re our first one!

Noah: I know, I’m excited. Thank you!

Venus: I know! I’m excited..for us too! (laughs) But for you as well. I think it’s great. 

Noah: It’s a lot of pressure! Nah, I’m just kidding. 

Venus: Oh, I’m so sorry! (Laughs)

Noah: Don’t worry, it’s not! (Laughs)

Venus: Alright, so let’s go ahead and get started with the questions.

Noah: Alright

Venus: First question! What is your favorite thing about Native Books Hawai’i?

Noah: One of my favorite things about Native Books Hawai’i is that it’s not just a bookstore. As you can see around us, there’s art! The community events, whether it’s music or meetings around certain issues, it’s very much a community space. It’s more than just a bookstore. But the books are important too!

—

Venus: Do you have a favorite memory in Native Books or of Native Books?

Noah: Oooh. My favorite memory of Native Books is definitely its original space in Ward Warehouse. In the corner…and I can picture it… on the corner of the makai side, above Old Spaghetti Factory, on the second floor. That space was also so welcoming and cozy. Just tucked in the corner of Ward Warehouse. I do miss that location. And I miss Ward Warehouse as well.

Venus: Yeah, I think we all do.

Noah: Yeah (laughs)

Venus: That’s such a good memory to have though…from the early days. So you’ve been coming to Native Books for a long time then. 

Noah: Yeah, since I was a kid. I remember my mom bringing me to the store and, you know, just perusing books. I remember…one time…we ran into my Aunty from Moloka’i – my grandma’s sister – and she’s a weaver. I think they were having a lauhala weaving workshop and she was one of the participants, or a teacher at the workshop. I don’t know, I must’ve been around 8 (years old) or something like that. But yeah, that was another cool memory of, again just this community space, bringing people together. 

Venus: Aw, that’s such a good memory. Aw, I’m glad you have that with you

—

Venus: Do you find yourself gravitating towards books on that area of study, or do you tend to gravitate away from them in your free time?

Noah: Oh, in my free time? Definitely, I’d start to gravitate away, a little bit. If I’m doing, like, pleasure reading, trying to enjoy the process of reading…I usually try to not read academic, or scholarly works. It’s not that those books aren’t enjoyable, or that they can’t be read in that way…

Venus: But that’s also your job, you know?

Noah: Yeah! It’s, like, my job and I’m trying to separate my two worlds. And also make my brain think in other ways. So especially creative works, whether it’s fiction or poetry…or, like, now I think I’ve been reading more mo’olelo–traditional mo’olelo. But it just makes you think in a different way than I usually have to think if I’m having to unpack an academic text. So yeah, I usually tend to gravitate away from academic or scholarly texts in my free time.

Venus: That’s a good way of describing it. You’re kind of challenging your way of thoughts. I mean you lean away from the [types] of texts that you always are reading.

Noah: Yeah, the ones I always am reading. Something new that keeps me, kinda fresh!

Venus: That’s good, you’re very well rounded then!

Noah: Yes, I try to be!

Venus: The intention is there!

—

Noah: And finding time to do pleasure reading, or recreational, leisurely reading. Over the past years, I’ve been getting better at returning to that kind of reading. And carving out space – intentional space to read. 

Venus: And the intention is always a big part of it. Even when you start academically reading, you have to go in with an intention, because it’s not always attention grabbing. You know, you have to be there and looking for something, wanting to educate yourself.

Noah: And I think reading is so important. It’s so important from keiki time to adult. We have to read everyday, right? For whatever job, you know, you probably have to read at some point.

Venus: I mean even like road signs! Cereal boxes…!

Noah: Instructions…! Whatever it is, you have to read! And then the other important thing about reading is that it makes you a better writer.

Venus: It really does.

Noah: So, I think, you know the more wide-read you are, that contributes to your understanding of writing styles. Again, whether it’s non-fiction, fiction, poetry…you learn about different cultures. And every single writer, every single author has a different writing style. So I think the more reading and writing you’re exposed to…you’re able to, kind of like a sponge, soak up different parts, and see the strengths. 

Venus: It’s kind of like every text is a resource text that you can pull from. 

Noah: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 

—

Venus: How do you balance teaching, research, and reading for pleasure?

Noah: Again, I think just…I have… It’s the way I picture my brain, as you know, like a series of switches. So I have to switch on and off, the academic Noah versus the leisure-reading Noah. And then there’s reading that kind of falls in between the two. Mo’olelo are a good example, they fall in between. I need them for, you know, the history aspect of it, but they’re also very, very entertaining – so those ones kind of fall in between. But I do have to switch my brain between those different modes so I can enjoy reading and not always feel like there’s pressure to read. I think that’s the big thing, yeah? When I read the academic side, or when I’m reading for work, I think there’s a pressure there. And when I’m reading for leisure-reading I feel like  “oh okay, I can relax.” I can take as much time as I want to read through the book. 

Venus: Take all the breaks you need. 

Noah: Yeah, take all the breaks I need. There’s no deadline. I can take five months to read one book if I really need to.

Venus: And there’s no shame in that!

Noah: Yeah, there’s no shame in that. 

Venus: Reading is reading.

Noah: Yeah, reading is reading. I might have to read back a couple of pages to refresh, but yeah

—

Venus: Alright, so I have your three book picks here with us. Tell me about the books that you have chosen as your “Scholar of the Month” picks.

‘Āina Hanau/Birthland  by Brandy Nalani McDougall 

Noah: Brandy is one of my colleagues at UH Manoa. She’s not in my department, she’s over at American Studies now. This is her second book. Her first book is Ka Makani Paʻakai/The Salt-Wind. This is her second book, ‘Āina Hanau/Birthland, which came out just a couple of years ago. I love Brandy’s poetry, she was the last Hawai‘i State Poet Laureate, so you might have seen her perform poetry around Honolulu. 

I really resonate with a lot of her poetry, especially her second book. It’s centered around ‘āina, and that’s a common thread throughout these poems. We had similar upbringings, so even her more personal poems resonate with me and how I grew up here in Hawai’i. So, I really love this book and Brandy’s work.

I think a lot of people wouldn’t think that I read poetry as a history professor, but as I was saying earlier, the ability to read different types of writing styles, especially poetry which is very creative…i’m hoping that my love for poetry trickles into my regular academic writing, and that it serves as a reminder that my academic writing doesn’t have to be so rigid, and bland – for lack of a better word. That you can incorporate creative elements even into scholarly writing. 

Venus: That makes sense. That is the base of writing, that it’s an art, so you can always find a way to incorporate more of those artistic qualities into it.

—

An Archive of Skin, an Archive of Kin by Adria Imada 

Noah: So this book is both close to me personally and academically. Adria Imada was my advisor at UC Irvine, while I was doing my PhD. She was close to finishing the book when I got there, so we got to see a lot of the behind the scenes process of how to even publish a book. This too, is her second book, her first book is Aloha America, which Native Books also carries. This book is a history of visual presentation of Leprosy patients here in Hawai’i. Both on the Makanalua Peninsula and on ‘Oahu as well. It’s a lot of visual-cultural analysis, but Adria writes so well. It’s a very accessible book. She took her time in really humanizing the patients in this book. It’s just so beautifully written. To see the process of her going through the last stages of publishing a book was really important to me as a scholar. This is just one of those books that I think everyone should read. 

—

Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupiʻo by Steven Desha

Noah: This book is actually a translation of Steven L. Desha’s work. Desha was a historian, reverend, politician for the island of Hawai’i, and he was also the editor for a newspaper called Kahuku Hawai’i. The newspaper ran in the 20th century, and if I’m remembering correctly, it was the last Hawaiian Language newspaper we had.

This mo’olelo, he wrote as a serial, came out one section a week in the newspaper, between 1920-1924. I believe it was over 120 episodes of this story. So you can imagine if you’re following the story, you have to tune in every week to this newspaper. 

I like this text because of that context. There was still people, like Steve L. Desha, and other editors at the time in the 1920s, who were still publishing mo'olelo. Who were still publishing Hawaiian Language newspapers at a time where the Hawaiian language was being devalued by the territorial government. There was the push towards Americanization, and [the editors] were really adamant about continuing ‘Ōlelo Hawai'i and trying to get the youth to learn. Trying to get the people that did know ‘Ōlelo Hawai'i to continue teaching and using it. I think a lot of people wouldn’t assume that a text like this, a mo'olelo like this would be published in the 1920’s. It’s often associated more with the nineteenth century, the 1800’s. But no, people were still publishing in ‘Ōlelo Hawai'i in the 20th century. 

It’s a great mo'olelo that follows Kekūhaupi'o, Kamehameha’s uncle and advisor, and of course, Kamehameha himself. This follows more closely to Kamehameha, and it’s not so much a broader view of political change in Hawai’i. It follows, specifically Kamehameha. The other cool thing about this book is that Steven Desha created a compilation of other accounts of Kamehameha. He took other Native Hawaiian writers and other Haole writers and combined them all into one account. It’s pulling together a bunch of primary sources to create a narrative. All of these accounts of Kamehameha he pulled to create one singular epic story.

Venus: Do you think you would’ve found your way to these books if you weren’t studying history? 

Noah: If I wasn’t studying history. I think maybe…If I wasn’t studying history. That’s a good question. Maybe? If we’re assuming that I still have this interest in broader Hawaiian culture, then I definitely would come across the mo'olelo’s.

Venus: This is a good thing then, that you’re introducing other people, who are not necessarily studying history, to these texts that you came upon based on your studies. Not that these books were necessarily used for your studies.

Noah: I mean I think, especially the Kamehameha once. Even if you’re not interested in history, you know who Kamehameha is. So even if you have this little bit of interest in learning more about Kamehameha, [Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupi'o] would probably be one of the first books that pop up if you were to go to a bookstore, or look at an online catalogue, or go to the library – this would probably be in the top two or three books on Kamehameha. 

Venus: And don’t be intimidated by the size.

Noah: Yeah, and again these mo'olelo were meant to be entertaining. 

Venus: And they were published in tid-bits, so you don’t have to pressure yourself to read it all in one go.

Noah: They’re just so entertaining. Besides just the historical part, there's so many cultural gems in there. Like when they talk about ‘awa or cooking or for people who are interested in chants – all that kind of information and aspects of culture can be found in our mo'olelo.

Venus: I love how you described that. 

Venus: What would you say your teaching philosophy is? 

Noah: Oh, my teaching philosophy…I’ll go to what’s on all my syllabi. At the end of my syllabi there’s an ‘ōlelo no'eau.

A 'ohe 'ulu e loa'a i ka pokole o ka lou – No ulu can be gotten if your picking stick is too short.

Proverbially it means that if you are unprepared, then you will not succeed. Try to imagine you’re coming to an ulu tree and you come with a three-foot stick when the tree is 12 feet tall. You’re not getting any ulu. You’re going home hungry.

So it’s a proverb about being prepared. I translate it to my students as coming prepared to class, putting in effort – I’m huge on effort. And the ‘ōlelo no'eau is not just my expectations for them, but it’s expectations for me too. So I need to come prepared to class. I need to be ready, I can’t just show up and wing it.

Venus: I think being in university, being a student and being a professor is a two-way relationship.

Noah: Yeah it is.

Noah: I teach Hawaiian Kingdom every fall. That class is a writing-intensive class so it tends to draw in a lot of non [history] majors. I’ll be lucky if I have even one or two history majors. I think effort for students who are really unfamiliar with history or, you know, they’re going to go on to this or that – I’m not trying to convert them into historians. I’m not expecting them to keep every single memory from this class, but if you can show me effort, that goes a long way. That’s why I have that ‘olelo no’eau in my syllabi.

Venus: So all your students reading this should know, right? 

Noah: (laughs) Yeah, they should know.

Venus: Come prepared to class!

Noah: Come prepared to class! Read!

Venus: Yes! That’s the big one. Read!

Venus: If you were to describe Native Books to a classroom full of your students who have never been here before, how would you describe the store?

Noah: If you were to go to Native Books, it’s not just a book store, it’s a community space. And you never know who you might run into at the bookstore! You could be running into a community organizer, or maybe a musician, or an artist! Maybe they’re putting up a new art installation. And I just feel like it’s such a welcoming place. Especially now, being in Chinatown you go from the business of the street, then you step in [Native Books] and it’s calm, peaceful. It’s a nice, warm space where you always feel welcome. And if you’re interested in anything Hawai'i related, this is the place you want to be.

Venus: I like that, thank you. And I mean, I’m in here a lot so it makes me happy that we give off that vibe towards the world.

Noah: Yeah, I feel like if you guys had couches people would never leave. 

Venus: Oh yeah, that’s a big one. I feel like we would need a bigger space, like an extra lounge area. 

Noah: Yeah, a little reading nook.

Venus: Oh yeah, I would never leave. 

Noah: (laughs)