When I signed up for my Cultural Anthropology class, not knowing who Dr. Janet Six was or what we would be doing, I was just happy to be able to get off the ship in Hawaii. Mauritius and it were the two ports where we had to be registered with a field class or program to leave the ship. Which, incidentally, does make sense as we only had about 10 hours in each place.
I had assumed that they were only fuel stops due to necessity and otherwise would not have been on our itinerary but found out that I was very wrong. Turns out, they used to both be ‘normal’ ports where the ship docked for about a week and everyone could do as they pleased. Until some students burnt a house down in Mauritius and made locals so mad in Hawaii the islands imposed some pretty strict regulations on Semester at Sea’s access, understandably enough.
Anyway, after a semester of that class with J6 who lives on Maui, I knew that my time in Hawaii would not disappoint.
We started our day at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu where we spent some time looking at amazing pieces of art that ranged from woodwork to contemporary cultural pieces to an instillation about what the perception of Hawaii is (aka blonde beach girls with tan surfer boys flanking them and idealized images of people who were not actually Hawaiian). After that, Janet took us to a wayfinders exhibit at the planetarium, which she paid for out of pocket for all 30 something of us to get in to. Following that, most of us ended up wandering to an interactive exhibit focusing on volcanoes and ocean life before heading out to the grassy courtyard area to sunbathe before lunch.
After lunch, we met up with a colleague of Janet’s who showed us all around Chinatown and talked to us about the history of the area and how it had changed over time. He explained how, across the street from us at one point, there was a brothel, but only white men went there. It seems to be a pretty common trend: colonizers and their ancestors exploiting local people, especially women. The tour was nothing less than expected, as was the Kona coffee that Janet, again, bought for the entire class afterward (individual drink orders with changes and all, that woman is a saint).
As we finished our coffees, we headed over to Waikiki beach to hang out and swim for a while. Have I mentioned that this is the best 20% of a grade EVER? In the history of the world? Because it is. We got shaved ice, because there was no way we were passing that one up, after swimming out past sandbanks and walking along the beaches of O’ahu.
I learned so much from my Cultural Anthropology course in general, but so much more from Dr. Janet Six as a person. We came a long way from our first day of class where I had to apologize for keeping my eyes closed to prevent vomiting from the rough seas. Through her referencing things that I had recently read about, like the phrase ‘As above, so below’ and such intriguing symbology of different things, I was instantly convinced that I had a new all-time favourite class. I was not wrong.
She taught us that normal is relative, and even within cultures it does not really exist. She taught us about archaeology and Hawaiian culture and sustainability and the Ralston Heights mansion she lived in during her time getting master’s degrees in New York. There was absolutely never a dull moment in class, and it only helped that she bought us cake and cookies rather frequently, while allowing us to watch ethnographies that fit so well with what we discussed in class. There was always room for more discussion and she did everything she could so that we really got the material. She didn’t want us to get the grade with no real take away, and she made sure that didn’t happen. I’m fairly confident that we all ‘got it’ at some point. That’s to say we all have a better understanding of so many different aspects of the world thanks to Janet.
Not only did J6 allow us to see the world in a new way, or simply give us the best possible day during our short time on Maui, she impacted each and every one of us and did exactly what we needed from her as a professor and a friend.
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