Department of History

2023-24 Awarded Amount: $5,942

Title: Story Mapping Water and Power in Utah and the Pacific Islands

The Dee Grant I received supported new community-engaged learning and research with my Fall 2023 undergraduate course, Histories of the Pacific. My original proposal focused on a particular outcome about how to create a collaborative student/community story map that demonstrated histories of water and power in Utah. This particular outcome was not realized in part because the community collaborations were more difficult to secure and maintain over the course of one semester than anticipated.

Nonetheless, our course did utilize community-engaged learning via Saturday field trips, inviting community guest speakers, and cooking demonstrations. Additionally, students created individual presentations that relayed the history of a particular body of water that held meaning to them and their family, as well as a story map that relayed histories of connections between waters in the Pacific and Utah.

Students in the course expressed a great interest and gratitude for the opportunity to visit different sites in our local area, including the Great Salt Lake, which many had not visited before despite being from this area.

Guest speakers included:

Speakers and cooking demos from:

  • Tara Benally, Rural Utah Project, demonstrated blue corn mush and Navajo tea
  • Jeannette Padilla, Food Justice Coalition, demonstrated luau stew and vaifala
  • Tufui Taukeiʻaho, demonstrated coconut husking, poi pounding and Tongan lou (steam wrapped vegetables)

Overall, the Dee grant funding allowed me to fulfill several learning outcomes in line with the Dee grant priorities, including: fostering community engagement, promoting University commitment to diversity, and direct benefits to student experience.

The community partnerships I began or strengthened benefited my teaching immediately, and will continue to be meaningful for my future courses.

Story Map: John W. Kauleinamoku
Story Map: From Hawaii to Zion, A Small History of LDS Church and Pacific Islanders