Phillip McArthur

CURRENT POSITION

Professor, Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability; Integrated Humanities
Affiliated Faculty, History; Pacific Studies
Editor-in-Chief, Jonathan Napela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies Publications

SCHOLARSHIP

Cultural Anthropology, Mythology, Cosmology, Ethnography, Semiotics, Oceania

EDUCATION

Ph.D.              Indiana University, 1995
M.A.               Indiana University, 1989
B.A.                Brigham Young University, 1987
A.A.S.             Ricks College, 1982

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

Editor-in-Chief, J. Napela Center Publications, 2006-present
Editor, Pacific Studies journal, 2006-2023
Member, McKay Mo‘olelo Committee, 2022-present
Member, University Strategic Planning Committee, 2021
Dean, College of Language, Culture, and Arts, 2008-2018
Member, University General Education Reform Steering Committee, 2011-2013
Member, President’s Advisory Council, 2007-2008
Associate Dean of General Education, 2003-2006
Chair, General Education Committee, 2003-2006
Member, University Academic Council, 2003-2006, 2008-2018
Co-Director, David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding, 2004-2006
Chair, Department of International Cultural Studies and World Languages, 1998-2003
Member, University Professional Development Committee, 2000-2003
Chair/Member, University Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2000-2002, 2006-2007
Member, Faculty Advisory Council, 1996-1998

COURSES TAUGHT

Lower Division – First Year Intercultural Studies Seminar; Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Introduction to Folklore; Introduction to Humanities; The Art of Seeing and Listening: Cross-Cultural Themes; Introduction to Cultural Studies Theory; American Folklore; Western Culture I (Ancient/Classical/Medieval).

Upper Division – Anthropology Theory; Popular Culture Theory; Folklore and Culture; Narrative, Identity and Culture; Myth and World Philosophy; Performance Studies; History of Western Oceania; Cultures of Oceania; Ethnographic Methods; Political and Economic Anthropology; Studies in Texts and Contexts; Language Documentation and Conservations; Senior Seminar.

PUBLICATIONS

Dialogues with a Trickster: On the Margins of Myth and Ethnography in the Marshall Islands, University of Hawai‘i Press. October, 2024.

“The Church in the Marshall Islands: A Cultural History”. 2023. Battlefields to Temple Grounds: Latter-day Saints in Guam and Micronesia. R. Devan Jensen and Rosalind Meno Ram, Eds. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.

“Oceania.” A Companion to Folklore. 2012. Regina Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem, Eds. Wiley-Blackwell Press. Pp. 248-264.

“Ambivalent Fantasies: Local Prehistories and Global Dramas in the Marshall Islands.” 2008. Journal of Folklore Research 45(3): 263-298, 2008.

“Modernism and Pacific Ways of Knowing: An Uneasy Dialogue in Micronesia.” Pacific Rim Studies 1(1): 7-24, 2007.

Book Review: Return to Culture: Oral Tradition and Society in the Southern Cook Islands (FF Communications 287) by Anna-Leena Siikala & Jukka Siikala. Journal of Folklore Research, 2006.

‘Introductory Note to “Folklore, Nationalism, and the Challenge of the Future,”’ in The Marrow of Human Experience: Essays in Folklore, William A. Wilson, Rudy, Jill Terry, ed. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2006.

“Narrative, Cosmos, and Nation: Intertextuality and Power in the Marshall Islands”, Journal of American Folklore 462: 1, 2004.

Book Review: Stories from the Marshall Islands by Jack A. Tobin. Pacific Studies 26:1, 2003.

“Oceania: An Overview,” in CultureGrams: World Addition, Vol. IV (Asia and Oceania). Lindon, UT: Axiom Press, 2002.

“Narrating to the Center of Power in the Marshall Islands.” In We are a People: Narrative and Multiplicity in the Construction of Ethnic Identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Paul Spickard and Jeffrey J. Burroughs, eds., 2000.

Book Review, Nuclear Nativity: Rituals of Renewal and Empowerment in the Marshall Islands, by Laurence Marshall Carucci. Contemporary Pacific, Spring, 1999.

“More Than Meets the Ear: A Marshallese Example of Folklore Method and Study for Pacific Collections,” In PIALA: Identifying, Using and Sharing Local Resources. pp. 49-71. University of Guam, 1997.

“Cultural Performances: Public Display Events and Festival.” Co-authored with Rory Turner. In The Emergence of Folklore in Everyday Life: A Fieldguide and Sourcebook. George H. Schoemaker, ed. Bloomington: Trickster Press, 1990.

Review: “Competence in Performance’: Ethnography for the Nineties.” In Folklore Forum. Vol, 22, no.1/2 pp. 111-118, 1989.

OTHER SCHOLARLY WORKS

Consultant/Film Crew: Ethnographic Film, Haka He Langi Kuo Tau: We Dance in the

Ecstasy of Singing. Tongan National Government, BYU–Hawaii, 2000.

Consultant/Film Crew: Ethnographic Film, Kava Kuo Heka. Tongan National Government, BYU–Hawaii, 1999.

Ph.D. Dissertation, “The Social Life of Narrative: Marshall Islands”. Indiana University, 1995. Selected dissertation of the year; Research and Graduate School, Indiana University

“Sociological Report,” Strengthening Agricultural Support Services. Asian Development Bank and Republic of the Marshall Islands Ministry of Resources and Development, 1994.

M.A. Thesis, “Marshallese Popular Songs: Framing and Indexing Modernization and Change in Inter-Gender Relationships”. Indiana University, 1989.

“Ranch Life in Utah: An American Sub-culture”. Senior Project, Ethnographic Field School. Department of Anthropology, Brigham Young University, 1986.

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

“In the Grip of a Trickster: Mythic (W)holes and Ethnographic Entanglements in the Marshall Islands.” American Folklore Society Meetings. Portland, Oregon, 2023

Chair on Panel: “Myth Performance and Religion,” American Folklore Society Meetings, Portland, Oregon, 2023. 

“The Matrilineal Puzzle: Women, Gendered Authority, and the Church in the Marshall Islands,” Church History in the Pacific and Asia Conference. La‘ie, HI, 2023

“Pushing Back Against Destruction: Women as Tricksters in a Marshallese Performance.” American Anthropology Association Meetings. Vancouver, B.C. Canada, 2019

“War of Words: Narrative Battles over Tradition and Legitimacy in the Modern State, Marshall Islands.” American Anthropology Association Meetings. San Jose, CA., 2018

“Munificent and Dangerous Chiefs: Marshallese Sensibilities about Land, Kinship, and Those Violent Americans.” American Anthropology Association Meetings. Washington, D.C., 2017

“The Land of Loss, or Land as a Historical Metaphor for Local and Global Violence in the Marshall Islands.” Pacific History Association Meeting. Tamun Bay, Guam, 2016

“Modernism and Pacific Epistemologies: Conflicts and Possibilities for Dialogue.” Keynote Speaker. Hawai`i University International Conference, Honolulu, HI, 2014

“Shadows, Curtains, and a Shiny Canoe...to Consider (earnestly) the Uncertainty of Meaning.” David O. McKay Annual Lecture. Selected by the faculty of BYU–Hawaii. La`ie, HI, 2013

“Narrative Battles in the Marshall Islands Post-Colonial State.” American Folklore Society, Bloomington, IN, 2011

Katoanga’i’o e Uike Lea Faka-Tonga. Lea Fakalangilangi. Guest Speaker, Tongan Language Week Celebration. La`ie, HI, 2011

“The Land of Loss, or Land as a Marshallese Metaphor for Local and Global Violence.” European Society for Oceanists, St. Andrews, Scotland, 2010.

“From the Marshall Islands to Idaho and Back Again: The Dialogic Ethnography and the Play of Tricksters.” American Folklore Society, Boise, Idaho, 2009.

“Re-Engendering and Regeneration of the Cosmos: Performing Local Inversions of Global Forces in the Marshall Islands.” American Folklore Society, Louisville, Kentucky, 2008.

“A Prehistory of Atomic Bombs, Cheese Balls, and Global Fantasies; viz, How The Marshallese Trickster Made America Dangerous.” University of California, Berkeley, Folklore Roundtable lecture series, 2008.

“Peering into Holes: Narrative Tricks and a Dialogic Encounter in the Marshall Islands” American/Canadian Folklore Society Joint Meetings, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 2007.

Chair on Panel: “Reflections on Fieldwork,” American/Canadian Folklore Society Joint Meetings, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 2007.

“The Joy of Nietzsche’s Angst, or a Believer Peering into the Infinite Regression of Texts.” Invited presentation to BYU–Hawaii Honors Colloquium, 2007.

“Ambivalent Histories in the Marshall Islands: Local Prehistories of the Contemporary Global,” Pacific History Association, Dunedine, New Zealand, 2006.

“Ambivalent Fantasies: Local Prehistories and Global Dramas in the Marshall Islands,” American Folklore Society, Atlanta, Georgia, 2005.

Symposium Panelist, “Understanding the Pacific Islander: A Pacific Symposium on Identity and Culture.” Provo, Utah, 2004.

“Tricksters, Christianity, and Gender: Locally Global Inversions of Power in the Marshall Islands.” American Folklore Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2004.

“A Tricky Identity in the Marshall Islands: Dismantling the Essentialized Local and Exploring the Ambiguous Global.” American Folklore Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003.
 
“To Laugh and Cry with the ‘Native’: On Liminal Figures Such as the Marshallese Trickster and a Folklorist.” American Folklore Society. Rochester, New York, 2002.

“Pacific Ways of Knowing and the Western Academy: A Postmodern Dialogue.” Invited address at BYU Hawai`i Faculty Convocation, 2000.

Participant, Asia-Pacific Art Triennial, Brisbane, Australia, September, 1999.

“From the Local to the Transnational: Narrative, Power, and Identity in the Marshall Islands.” Pacific Representations: Culture, Identity, Media. Canberra, Australia, 1998.

“Our Mouths are filled with the Words of Others.” Invited Faculty Address to the Annual BYUH Honors Program Awards, 1998.

Chair on Panel: “Folklore and the Politics of Memory.” American Folklore Society. Austin, Texas, 1997.

“Narrative Power: The Sociology of Folklore in the Marshall Islands.” American Folklore Society, Austin, Texas, 1997.

Chair and Comment on Panel: “Legend, Lore and the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific.” Pioneers in the Pacific Conference. La`ie, Hawai‘i, 1997.

Panelist in Academic Forum on “Ethnocentrism”. BYU–Hawaii, 1997.

“Poetics and Power: Recontextualizing Narrative in the Marshall Islands.” Popular Culture Association of the Pacific. Waikiki, Hawai‘i, 1997.

“Performance, History, and Social Life: Rethinking the Significance of Folklore in the Pacific.” Invited keynote address to the Pacific Islands Association for Librarians and Archivists. Majuro, Marshall Islands, 1996.

“Blurring Genres in Marshallese Historical Discourse.” Pacific History Association Meetings. Hilo, Hawai‘i, 1996.

“Destruction and Renewal: Inverting Gender in Marshallese Performance.” Pacific Basin International Popular Culture Conference. Honolulu, Hawai‘i, 1996.

“Narrating to the Center of Power: Exploring a Transnational Identity in the Marshall Islands.” Ethnicity and Multi-ethnicity: Constructing and Deconstructing Identity. BYU–Hawaii, La`ie, Hawai`i, 1995.

Panel Participant at Symposium. “Tracing the Global Through the Local: Exploring the Popular and Political.” Indiana University, 1995.

“The Cosmology of Social Life and the Nation in the Marshall Islands.” Nationalism, Language and Identity. Working Group at the Indiana Center on Global Change and World Peace, 1994.
 
“Recontextualizing Narrative: Dialogue Between Ascribed and Achieved Status in the Marshall Islands.” American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., 1993.

“The Cosmology of Power and the Power of Cosmology: Forging Transnational Identities through Oral Literature in the Marshall Islands.” Invited presentation to the Roundtable Series, Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993.

“Extended Kin: Marshallese Genealogy and Kinship.” Invited lecture to the College of the Marshall Islands faculty and administration, 1992.

“Voices from the Past: Preserving Records of Marshallese Culture, Language and Literature.” Invited Presentation for radio program. Majuro, Marshall Islands, 1992.

“Oral Narrative and Cosmology in the Marshall Islands.” Invited Lecture to the College of the Marshall Islands faculty and administration, 1991.

“Exploration of Gender Identity in Marshallese Popular Song.” American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C., 1989.

RESEARCH GRANTS AND FUNDING

Field Research, Documentation of Twelfth Festival of Pacific Arts, Guam, Micronesia. College of Arts and Humanities, BYU–Hawaii, 2016
Field Research, Documentation of Ninth Festival of Pacific Arts, Palau, Micronesia. College of Arts and Sciences, BYU–Hawaii, 2004.
Field Research. Korea and Japan. Nationalism and Sport during World Cup Competition. College of Arts and Sciences, BYU–Hawai‘i, 2002.
Field Research. Documentation of the Eight Festival of Pacific Arts, New Caledonia College of Arts and Sciences, BYU–Hawaii, 2000.
Ethnography on culture and education in Fiji. Brigham Young University International Studies, Provo, Utah, 1999.
Field Research. Documentation of the Seventh Festival of Pacific Arts. Apia, Samoa. Institute of Polynesian Studies, BYU–Hawaii, 1996.
Doctoral Research Fellowship. College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, 1995.
Doctoral Research Grant. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, New York, New York, 1992.
Pre-Doctoral Research Grant. Indiana Center for the John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation for Global Change and World Peace, 1991.
Pre-Doctoral Research Grant. Indiana University Graduate School, 1991.

HONORS

Exemplary Scholarship, Annual award presented to a faculty member by the University President’s and Dean’s Council, BYU–Hawaii, 2024.
Exemplary Faculty Award. Presented by the University President’s Council, BYU–Hawaii, 2014.
Faculty Election to Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 2007. 
Teacher of the Year, College of Arts and Sciences. Presented by Student Body, BYU–Hawaii, 2002.
Teacher of the Year, Division of Fine Arts. Presented by Student Body, BYU–Hawaii, 2000.
Teacher of the Year, Division of Fine Arts. Presented by Student Body, BYU–Hawaii, 1999.
Appointment to Board of Fellows, The Pacific Institute, BYU–Hawaii, 1998.
Teacher of the Year, Division of Fine Arts. Presented by Student Body, BYU–Hawaii, 1998.
Honored Professor Award. Presented by students of the BYUH Honors Program, 1998.
Doctoral Dissertation selected Esther Kinsley Dissertation of the Year, 1995.
Research and the University Graduate School, Indiana University, 1996.
Teacher of the Year, Division of Fine Arts. Presented by Student Body, BYU–Hawaii, 1996.
Dissertation Research Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, 1995.
High Pass Distinction, Ph.D. Examinations, 1990.
Graduated Cum Laude, Brigham Young University, 1987.
Graduated with Honors, Ricks College, 1982.

LANGUAGES

English, Kajin M̧ajeļ (fluent)
Other languages studied: Spanish, Latin
Familiarity with other Micronesian and Polynesian Languages

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Professor:  Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability, Integrated Humanities, History, and Pacific Studies. BYU–Hawaii, 2011-present
Associate Professor: Anthropology, Humanities, and Pacific Islands Studies. BYU–Hawaii, 1999-2010.
Faculty: Travel Study in Europe in cooperation with BYUI. England, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, 2000.
Assistant Professor: Humanities and Pacific Islands Studies. BYU–Hawaii, 1995-1998.
Instructor: Folklore. Indiana University Purdue University – Columbus, 1994.
Instructor: Social Science/Humanities. College of the Marshall Islands, 1992-1993.
Instructor: Folklore. Indiana University, 1991.
Associate Instructor: Folklore. Indiana University, 1988-1991.
Instructor: Cultural Anthropology. Brigham Young University, 1986-1987.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Book Review Editor, Pacific Studies, 1997-2003.
Assistant to the Editor, Journal of Folklore Research, 1987-1989.
Graduate Assistant, Faculty Interdisciplinary Seminar on Performance, Indiana University, 1987-1988.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

Administrative References

Tēvita Ka‘ili, Ph.D.
Professor, Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability
Brigham Young University–Hawaii
55-220 Kulanui Street
La‘ie, HI 96762
808-675-3692
tevita.kaili@byuh.edu

Yifen Beus, Ph.D.
Associate Academic Vice President
Brigham Young University–Hawaii
55-220 Kulanui Street
La‘ie, HI 96762
808-675-3616
yifen.beus@byuh.edu

Keith Roberts, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow
University of Pittsburg
5662 Grove Terrace
Greendale, WI 53129
414-529-2677
robertsk@gmail.com

John Bell, Ph.D.
Retired Academic Vice President
Brigham Young University–Hawaii
808-372-3265
JohnDBell8000@outlook.com
 

Academic References

Richard Bauman, Ph.D.
Emeritus Distinguished Professor
Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
Indiana University 433
Bloomington, IN 47405
812-855-0395
bauman@indiana.edu

Katherine Borland, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Comparative Studies
Ohio State University
Hagerty Hall Founders Hall 2018
Columbus, OH 43210
614-247-0045
borland.19@osu.edu

Beverly Stoeltje, Ph.D.
Retired Professor
Department of Anthropology
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
812-855-8014
stoeltje@indiana.edu

Patricia Sawin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
American Studies and Anthropology
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
919-962-1572
patricia_sawin@unc.edu

CV Last Revised June 2024