Areas of Professional Study and Interest
- HIST 201 - World Civilizations Before 1500 (Honors)
- HIST 202 - World Civilization Since 1500
- HIST 200 - The Historians Craft
- HIST 250 - History of Eastern Oceania
- HIST 365 - Hawaiian History I - Pre-Western
- HIST 379 - U.S. Since 1945
- HIST 383 - History of Asia & Pacific Americans
- HIST 390R - Special Studies
- HIST 485 - Junior Tutorial
- HIST 490 - Historical Research and Writing
Education
- PhD, University of California - Santa Barbara, 2006
- MA, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2000
- BA, Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi, 1997
Teaching Experience
- Full-Time Instructor, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, 2005-2006
- Lecture, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, 2003-2005
Languages
- ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian)
Selected Publications
- "Hui Nalu, Beachboys, and the Surfing Boarder-lands of Hawaiʻi" The Contemporary Pacific, volume 20 number 4, 89-113, 2008.
- "Terrorism or Native Protest: the Hui O Heʻe Nalu and Native Hawaiian Resistance to Colonialism," Pacific Historical Review Volume 74, Issue 4, Pages 575-601, 2005.
Biographical Sketch
Isaiah Walker was born and raised in Keaukaha, Hilo, Hawaiʻi. After joining the LDS church in 1990 and graduating from Hilo High School in 1991, he moved to Lāʻie and attended BYUH. He served a mission in San Diego, California from 1992-1994. In 1996 Isaiah married Rebekah Matagi of Lāʻie, and they have 4 beautiful children. After graduating with a bachelor's in History from BYU–Hawaii in 1997 and earning a master's degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Isaiah completed a PhD. from the University of California, in Santa Barbara. Isaiah studies Hawaiian history and colonialism from a unique perspective, from the vantage of Hawaiian surfers. Focusing primarily on a Hawaiian surfing club formed on the North Shore of O‘ahu in 1976, his dissertation analyzes the history of surfing, resistance, and masculinity in Hawai‘i. Contending that the ocean surfing realm was a sanctuary and borderland for Hawaiians, his research creatively analyzes a space where Hawaiians were empowered and colonial hierarchies were often turned upside down. He is currently revising his dissertation to be published in book form by the University of Hawaii Press. Other portions of his research have been published as articles, found in the Spring 2008 issue of Contemporary Pacific and the November 2005 issue of Pacific Historical Review. He is currently a professor and department chair in the History Department where he teaches World, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islands history.
