LAURIE M MENGEL 

 

POB 434   

Honoka`a, HI  

Home: (808)333-7677    

Email: hapagirllaurie@gmail.com

 

Working Dissertation Title: “Beyond Picture Brides: Japanese Women, Migration, Marriage, and Divorce in Japan and Hawai`i 1885-1930” This dissertation critically examines the multiple meanings of marriage,  divorce, and labor migration for women migrating from Japan to Hawai`i during the period of Japanese contract labor migration through an examination of population registers and divorce records in Japan and Hawai`i. 

 

Education 

 

• ABD American Civilization, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 2/2000.

 Candidacy exams directed by: 

 

Dr. Robert Lee (Asian American Studies with an emphasis on History),  

Dr. Lewis Gordon (Critical Race Theory),  

Dr. John Modell (Methods of Constructing Social Histories/Historical Demography),  

Dr. Suzanne Oboler (Citizenship and Belonging: A Focus on Latinos in the US) 

 

• Yamasa Institute for Japanese Language Study, Okazaki Japan. Summer 2000
• Teaching Certificate, Harriet W. Sheridan Center. May 1999
• Advanced to doctoral candidacy February 2000
• M.A., in American Civilization, Brown University. May 1999 
• Graduate coursework and research, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, Department of American Studies 

1996-1997.  

• B.A. with Honors, Ethnic Studies, focus on Comparative Ethnic Studies, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California. May 1996.
• General Requirements at the Peralta Community College System in Oakland, California. 1992-1994.

 

Teaching experience: 

 

• California State University East Bay, August 2022 to present “Race in the City” in the Department of Ethnic Studies.

 

• University of Hawai`i at Hilo, Fall 2016 to December2021.

Courses: “Principles of Sociology,” “Race and Racisms with an emphasis on the Pacific,” and “Social Problems.” Taught online, face-to-face classes . 

 

• Online Faculty for Southern New Hampshire University, Winter 2015 to 2021. 

Courses: “Sociology of Minority Relations,” “Sociology of Gender,” “Diversity,” “African American History,” and “Applied Social Sciences.” 

 

• Adjunct Faculty for Hawai`i Community College, Spring 2016

Courses: “Introduction to Sociology.” 

 

• Adjunct Faculty for the Community College of Rhode Island 2013-2014

Courses: “Introduction to Sociology,” “The Sociology of Marriage, Family, and Intimate Relationships,” “The Sociology of Cultural Diversity,” “The Sociology of Social Problems.” 

 

• Adjunct Professor for Johnson and Wales University 2013-2014

Courses: “Introduction to Sociology.” 

 

• Adjunct Professor for Roger Williams University 2012-2013.

Courses: “Race and Democracy in the 21^st Century.” 

 

• Adjunct Instructor for California State University Fullerton Spring 2011 Semester, 

Courses: “Asian Americans of Mixed Race Heritage” 

 

• Visiting Professor for University of Connecticut at Storrs 2008-2009. 

Courses: “The Asian American Experience,” “Asian American Women: Histories and  

Issues.” 

 

• Online Instructor for SUNY Empire College 2008 -2009.

Courses: “History of American Ethnic Groups” 

 

• Visiting Professor for Sarah Lawrence College Spring 2005-2006.

Courses: “Modern Japanese Women in Migration” “Asian American History (year long course,” “Who and What is an Asian Pacific Islander: A Study of Orientalism ” (graduate level course.) 

 

• Instructor for Brown University 1999-2004.

Courses: “Native Americans and Media.” “Mixed Race in Theory and Culture.”  

 

• Teaching fellow at Brown University 1999-2004.

Courses: “Reading Race Reading Difference,” “Introduction to Latino/a Studies,” “Introduction to Ethnic Studies.” “Introduction to African American Intellectual Thought,” “City Politics.” “Rastafarianism: Philosophy, Theology and Politics,” “Introduction to Race Theory: Race and Horror.” 

 

Publications  

 

• H-Net Review for Eiichiro Azuma’s Between Two Empires: Race, History, and Transnationalism in 

Japanese America Oxford University Press: 2005 

 

• “Triples: The Social Evolution of a Multiracial Panethnicity: An Asian American Perspective,” in Rethinking Mixed Race, edited by David Parker and Miri Song. London: Pluto Press, 2001.

 

• “Issei Women and Divorce in Hawai`i: 1885–1908,” Social Process in Hawai`i, 39 (1997).

 

• “Deconstructing Race: The Multiethnicity of Sui Sin Far,” Books and Culture (November 1996).

 

• “Not Just Picture Brides,” Nikkei Heritage (San Francisco: National Japanese Historical Society, August 

1996). 

 

• Voices III: The Face of America, An Anthology of Writings by People of Mixed Racial Descent (publishing funded through the University of California, Berkeley). Co-editor and contributor of an essay, two poems, and artwork. 

 

• “Spam” (art and prose) Slant: Asian Pacific American Magazine, 6.1 (Dec. 1995–Jan. 1996), 22. 

 

• Imagining Worlds, by Jon Ford and Majorie Ford (New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 1995). Four 

essays.  

 

Reviewer and editorial consultant 

• Textbook reviewer for Gottfried, Rosalind, My Sociology:  An Introduction for Today’s Students, Routledge Press, 2018.
• Editorial assistant for Radical Philosophy Review. (Baltimore, MD, Radical Philosophy Association: v.4 

Nos. 1 and 2, 2001). 

• Editorial consultant for Spickard, Paul, Japanese Americans: The Formation and Transformations of an 

Ethnic Group (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1996). 

• Reviewer and fact checker for Kid’s Explore America’s Japanese American Heritage (Denver: John Muir 

Publications, 1996). 

 

Selected Citations 

• Nakamura, Kelli Yoshie. “Yeiko Mizo and the Japanese Home for Abused Picture Brides (1895-1905)” in Amerasia Journalvol. 36:1 (2010) pp.1-32.
• Hune, Shirley and Gail M. Nomura. Asian/Pacific Islander Women: A Historical Anthology. (New York: 

New York University Press, 2003) p.395. 

• Winters, Loretta I. and Herman L. DeBoseNew Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 

21st Century. (Thousand Oaks, Calif., Sage Publications, 2003). 

• Luibhéid, Eithne. Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border. (Minneapolis, University of 

Minnesota Press, 2002). 

• Yaguchi, Yujin, Hawaii No Rekishi To Bunka: Higeki To Hokori No Mozaiku No Naka De(The History and  

Culture of Hawaii: the Mosaic of Tragedy and Pride) (Tokyo: Chuo Koron Shinsha, 2002).   

• Olliver-Richardson, Yumiko A. A Sense of Belonging: Local Sansei Women's Experiences in Hawaii. 

(Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 2002). 

• Merry, Sally Engel. Colonizing Hawai'i: the Cultural Power of Law. (Princeton: Princeton University 

Press, 2000). 

• Tamura, Eileen. “Using the Past to Inform the Future: An Historiography of Hawai`i’s Asian and Pacific 

Islander Americans” Amerasia Journal Vol. 26, No. 1, 2000. 

• Websdale, Neil, Understanding Domestic Homicide  (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law), 1999.
• Yung, Judy. “Making More Waves: New Writing by Asian American Women, Dragon Ladies: Asian 

American Feminists Breathe Fire, Women in Hawai'i: Sites, Identities, and Voices, Asian American  

Women and Men: Labor, Laws, and Love, Teaching Asian American Women's History” Review Essay.  

Johns Hopkins University Press: Journal of Asian American Studies 2.3 (1999) 311- 318. 

• Spickard, Paul. Japanese Americans: The Formation and Transformations of an Ethnic Group(Boston:  

Twayne Publishers, 1996). 

 

 

Selected Acknowledgements 

• Gordon, Lewis R. Existentia Africana: Understanding Africana Existential Thought. (New York, 

Routledge, 2000). 

• Lesser, Jeffrey. Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in 

Brazil. (Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1999). 

 

Guest Lecturer in College Courses 

• University of Connecticut at Storrs, guest lecture on Japanese Women's History for Dr. Roger Buckley's course on Japanese Internment. Spring 2009. 

 

• Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan guest lecturer on “Gender and Orientalism”

Professor Emiko Ochiai June 2002.  

 

• Brown University guest lecturer 1997-2000, lectures or guest speaker for 1997-2004

“What is Asian America?” “Native American History and Law,” “Asian American History post 1945,” 

“Multi ethnicity and Multi Racial People,” “American Civil Rights Movements,”  

 

 in American Civilization 019 Lectured on  

Japanese women’s transnational history. Teaching Fellow Karen Inoue Spring semester 2002 

• Brown University guest lecturer in American Civilization 190 “American Civil Rights Movements” 

Professor Suzanne Oboler. Lectured on Native American History and Law. Fall Semester 1999 and Fall  

Semester 2000 

• Brown University guest lecturer in American Civilizations 167 “Asian American History post 1945”

Professor Robert Lee. Lectured on Multiraciality in Asian American Communities March 1998.  

• Brown University guest lecturer in Anthropology 157 “Multi ethnicity and Multi Racial People”

Professor Wanni Anderson Lectured on Multiraciality in Hawai`i November 1997.  

• University of Hawai`i at Manoa guest lecturer in American Studies 606 “Ethnicity and Multiplicity in 

America” 

Professor Paul Spickard. Led graduate seminar on racial multiplicity. April 1997.  

• University of Hawai`i at Manoa guest lecturer in Women's Studies 360. “Asian Women in Hawai`i”

Professor Carol Fan. Two lectures for class on Asian women's migration to Hawai`i. The first on the conducting of oral histories, the second on Issei (migrating Japanese) women. September 1996 and October 1996.  

• California State University Hayward guest lecturer in Asian American Studies 1500. “Asian American History.” Professor Gary Kawaguchi. Lectured on the history and mis/representation of Japanese immigrant women 
• California State University Hayward guest lecturer in Asian American Studies 3700. “Asian American 

History.” Professor Gary Kawaguchi Lectured to Japanese internment class on how to conduct oral  

histories. Historical background, theory, role of the interviewer, ethical considerations and practical advice were discussed. January 1996  

 

Conferences, Talks, and Workshops 

• Participant at Hawai`i National Great Teachers Seminar, Volcano, HI, July 2019.
• “Between Two Islands: Japanese Women between Oshima and Hawai`i in Migration.” In “Island Voices: Celebrating Our Past, Present, and Future.” At the 39^thAnnual Sociological Conference, Hilo, Hawai`i February 2018.
• “Ain’t I a Laborer?” in Gaps and Bridges in Women’s Studies Between Worlds panel. Southern Connecticut State University, October 19-20, 2007.
• Invited participant for the Women of Color Leadership Project at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois June 2007.
• “Is Yellow Black or White?” Invited speaker by Sarah Lawrence College APICAD (Asian Pacific Islander Students and Ethnic Studies Student Coalition) November 2005. 
• Moderator for Panel on “Representing Asian and Pacific Material Culture” for the Asian and Pacific Women: Indigenous and Diasporic Conference, New Haven Connecticut, October 28-29, 2005.
• Workshop facilitator on “Balancing Family and Academia” Berkshires Conference for Women Historians, Pomona California, June 2005.
• “Beyond Picture Brides: Japanese Women, Marriage, Migration and Divorce, 1880-1930” Social Science Research Council Immigration Conference, Asilomar, Pacific Grove, California, January 2003.
• “Contracts Made to be Broken: Labor and Divorce in Japanese Women’s Migration to Hawai`i.” Social Science History Association Conference, Baltimore November 2003. 
• Invited speaker for closing night dinner of Asian American History Month, Brown University, November 2001 
• Invited speaker for the first Hapa (mixed race Asian) workshop at Brown University, October 2001. 
• Invited speaker for Multiraciality and Asian America Workshop, for East Coast Asian Students Union, Brown University, February 1999
• Invited speaker for the Second Pan Collegiate Mixed Race Conference, co-hosted by the Students of Mixed Heritage at Amherst College (SMHAC), Brown Organization of Multiracial and Biracial Students 

(BOMBS), Wellesley College’s FUSION, and Wesleyan University, and MAVIN, Middletown, Connecticut, February 1999  

• Moderator and chair for panel, Hawaiian Statehood and Racial Representation, at the Brown University’s Symposium on Race, Brown University, Rhode Island, October, 1998 
• “Triples: Evolution of a Multiracial Panethnicity,” Association for Asian American Studies National 

Conference Honolulu, June 1998  

• Keynote Speaker for Brown University’s Organization of Multiracial and Biracial Students’ Multiracial Convocation, October 1997 
• Barnes and Noble, Kahala, Hawai`i Invited speaker on Japanese American women's history for Women's History month. March 1997 
• “Representations of Racial Mixedness in Popular Children’s Culture: Its Meanings and Implications,” Pacific International Conference on Popular Culture presented by the Popular Culture Association of the Pacific, Honolulu, January 1997 (Chair.) 
• National Japanese American Historical Society guest panelist for Angel Island tour Presented immigration history of Japanese peoples to Hawai`i and Mainland United States. May 1996
• “Not Just Picture Brides: Issei Women in Hawai`i,” Association for Asian American Studies Hawai`i/Pacific Northwest Joint Regional Conference, Honolulu, March 1996 
• World Conference on Women NGO Forum Beijing, China August 1995

  

Academic Awards  

• Honors University of California Department of Ethnic Studies 1996
• Received award for “Outstanding Accomplishments and Achievements While Overcoming Barriers and Obstacles” by the students and faculty of U.C. Berkeley’s Department of Ethnic Studies. May 1996 

 

Grants/Fellowships/Scholarships  

• Travel grant from the University of Hawai`i Department of Sociology to attend the Asian American Studies Conference in Washington DC, March 2020—cancelled due to COVID.
• Grant by the University of Hawai`i Professional Assembly to attend the Hawai`i National Great Teachers Seminar in Volcano, Hawai`i, July 2019
• Smithsonian Pre Doctoral Fellowship in the Asian Pacific Islander American Division under the direction of Dr. Franklin Odo. 2009-2010
• Social Science Research Council International Migration Fellow 2002–2003 
• Visiting Research Scholar, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 2002–2003 
• Graduate Fellow Brown University Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity 2002–2010. 
• Brown University Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Research Award 2001
• Brown University Summer Language Study Grant for study in Japan Summer 2000
• University of Hawai`i Pacific-Asian Scholarship, for research pertinent to the Pacific-Asian region 1996–1997 
• Grant from Asian American Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley, to conduct research 

in Hawai`i, 1996 

• University of California Presidential Fellowship, 1995 to conduct scholarly research in Hawai`i