Graduate Advising:
Students interested in studying in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa should contact Reece Jones directly to discuss your research interests and plans. Reece advises students in the fields of political geography and geopolitics, with a focus on borders and immigration.
Current Graduate Students:
Primary advisor:
Daniel Adel (PhD Geography and Environment) Topic: Borders and water politics in India and Bangladesh
Kahiokalamekawena'ula Elkington (PhD Geography and Environment) Topic: Hawaiian Social Movements
Meagan Harden (PhD Geography and Environment) Topic: Political Geography of Migration
Abigail Hawkins (MA Geography and Environment) Topic: Filipina Labor Migration in Japan
Anthony Tamer (MA Geography and Environment) Topic: Border Externalization in Mexico
John Nightingale (PhD Geography and Environment) Topic: Borders and Migration in Europe
Committee member:
Philipp Dembicki (PhD Sociology)
Michelle Harangody (PhD Geography and Environment)
Taksuki Kohatsu (PhD Geography and Environment)
Olivia Meyer (PhD Geography and Environment)
Morsaline Mojid (PhD Sociology)
Leif Salveson (MA Geography and Environment)
Completed Theses/Dissertations as primary advisor:
Kawēlau Wright (PhD 2023 Geography) HULIHIA NĀ KĀNĀWAI ʻĀINA: The Effects of Post-1893 Land Law Changes on Native Hawaiians
Borjana Lubura (PhD 2023 Geography) Altermobilities: Everyday Life on the Move in the Western Balkans - Winner of the 2023 Bowers Award for best graduating student
Grace Chun (MA 2023 Geography and Environment) A Case Study of Open Borders: The Experiences of People from the Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of Palau in Hawai'i
Dylan Beatty (PhD 2022 Geography) 'Somewhere to the West:' Constructed Sovereignty and Everday Geopolitics in Maritime Borderlands in the South China Sea
Kyle Kajihiro (PhD 2020 Geography) Topic: Kaho'olawe is not an Island - Winner of the 2020 Bowers Award for best graduating student
Md. Azmeary Ferdoush (PhD 2019 Geography) Topic: India-Bangladesh Border Enclaves
Salvatore Saluga (MA 2018 Geography) Topic: Samoan Football Migration
Dylan Beatty (MA 2015 Geography) Topic: The Geopolitics of the Spratly Islands
Nick Cosmas (MA 2015 Geography) Topic: Thailand-Malaysia Border
Hillary Strasser (MA 2015 Geography) Topic: Geopolitics of Resources in Myanmar - Winner of the 2015 Wiens Award for best graduating student
Jaya Reinhalter (MA 2014 Geography) Topic: Intentional Communities: Place-based Articulations of Social Critique
Kyle Kajihiro (MA 2014 Geography)Becoming Pearl Harbour: A 'Lost Geography' of American Empire - Winner of the 2014 Wiens Award for best graduating student
Borjana Lubura-Winchester (MA 2013 Geography)Topic: Humanitarian Intervention in Libya: Fighting for Human Rights or Regime Change?
Jay Ireland (MA 2013 Geography) Event, Representation, and Immigration: The Political Discourse of Arizona's SB 1070
Kuan-Chi Wang (MA 2013 Geography) Techno-production Network and Edamame Trade between Taiwan and Japan
Brandon Barbour (MA 2011 Geography) Thesis title - Narative, the Event, and Identity Categories in Xinjiang Winner of the 2012 Wiens Award for best graduating student
Thomas Belfield (MA 2011Geography) Thesis title - Jakarta: Of Other Spaces
Courses Taught:
Geography 151: Geography and Contemporary Society
This course provides an introduction to the field of human geography by analyzing the contemporary process of globalization. Does globalization mean the death of distance and the end of geography? Or as the world becomes increasingly connected does location matter more than ever? The major subfields of human geography – including economic, political, cultural, population, urban and environmental geography – are covered by introducing the major debates and analyzing how globalization is affecting the spatial organization of each set of processes.
Geography 335: Political Geography
This course considers the geography of the world political system. It analyzes the development of the modern sovereign state system, the emergence of nations and nationalism, and the idea of sovereignty. It will emphasize the linkages between changing economic systems and the political organization of space. Topics will include borders, states, territoriality, sovereignty, nationalism, geopolitics, and homelands. The course concludes by assessing contemporary challenges to the sovereign state system both in terms of international organizations like the United Nations, European Union and World Trade Organization and sub-state actors like insurgent groups and terrorists.
Geography 695: Concepts and Theories in Geography
This course provides an overview of the foundational concepts and theories in the discipline of geography. Topics will include: early geographers; establishing the academic discipline; environmental determinism; Berkeley School cultural geography; spatial science and the quantitative revolution; humanistic geography; structuralism and marxism; poststructural and postmodernism; feminist geographies; contemporary trends in geographic technologies and physical geography. This course is required for all incoming geography graduate students. In addition to developing a general understanding of the discipline, students will also write a literature review of their specific subfield.
Geography 735: Seminar in Political Geography
Different themes each year, often focused on borders, territory, and the state.