Cooling the Tropics

“In this remarkable book, Hi‘ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart looks to the deep, and not so deep, histories of ice and coldness in Hawai‘i to provide theoretical and ethnographic insight into the relationships between settler colonialism, American imperialism, the environment, racism, bodies, aesthetics, taste, and Kanaka Maoli sovereignty. It is a beautifully written, genre-bending contribution that is one of the only truly transdisciplinary books I have ever read.” - Paige West, Claire Tow Professor of Anthropology, Barnard College and Columbia University

“By showing how cold drinks and foods were a way for white American settlers to make Hawai‘i feel more like home and to further emphasize how uncivilized Native Hawaiians were for not understanding ice and using it correctly, Hi‘ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart demonstrates that the management of climate and taste is a significant mode of power that settler colonialism operates through. This outstanding, compelling, and important book will make a significant impact on our understandings of Hawaiian history and settler colonialism writ large.” - Maile Arvin, author of Possessing Polynesians: The Science of Settler Colonial Whiteness in Hawai‘i and Oceania

"Cooling the Tropics offers a compelling model for future research focused on the simultaneously sensorial, biopolitical, and ecological implications of colonialism’s thermal infrastructures." - Hsuan L. Hsu, The Senses and Society

"Fascinating and thoughtful. . . . Recommended. General readers and advanced undergraduates through faculty." - F. Ng, Choice

“Cooling the Tropics is well worth reading. … With many revealing and fascinating examples, [Hobart] tells an engaging story of the American colonisation of Hawaii that is open, unfixed and challengeable.”

"Contributing to a rich, contemporary conversation of critical ruminations on materiality, the elements, and questions of race and indigeneity, Cooling the Tropics pushes readers to think about how indigeneity is shaped in colonial discourses. … This well researched book will fascinate and keep readers on the hook."

"Well researched, and it is also well written ... Cooling the Tropics is certainly worth reading. It pulls together ideas on food pathways, extractive industries, indigenous studies, and environmental forms of knowledge in a way that is both provocative and productive."

"Throughout the book, Hobart’s eloquent, witty, yet to-the point writing style is outstanding. . . . By bringing together analyses of settler colonialism, sensorial experiences, and food, the author creates evocative word combinations and points to seemingly mundane phenomena—such as to melting ice toward the end of the book—that form new concepts." - Mascha Gugganig, Gastronomica

"A work like Hobart’s Cooling the Tropics is a much-needed investigation into how ice served as a necessary conduit for American influence to grow and expand within the Hawaiian Islands. . . . Hobart’s work is a chilling reminder that despite encroaching American influence, the tropics and, by extension, Native Hawaiian bodies could not be packed, moulded, or served alongside icy commodities. Instead, Kanaka Maoli persevered in the face of shifting power dynamics by remaining cool and collected, and ultimately reaffirmed their presence in the islands." - Kale Kanaeholo, Journal of Pacific History

"With Cooling the Tropics, Hobart has contested these depictions and convincingly opened a path for future studies of colonialism, Indigeneity, and foodways in the Pacific. For these reasons, scholars across disciplines and fields will find Hobart’s careful study . . . refreshing." - Issay Matsumoto, Journal of American Ethnic History

"Until reading this book, I had not fully grasped the impacts of thermal dependency on our lives and futures. . . . After reading this book I now realize that my thinking about Indigenous resurgence and futurity needs to also attend to issues of temperature control, refrigeration, and ice." - Hokulani K. Aikau, Native American and Indigenous Studies

"Cooling the Tropics has a substantial bibliography and notes and will fit beautifully into an undergraduate or graduate course in ethnography, anthropology, sociology, Hawaiian Studies, food and culture courses, and political science. Hobart weaves a narrative that leads towards another way to consider the history and culture of the Kanaka Maoli of Hawai‘i." - Kristin McAndrews, Hawaiian Journal of History

"Cooling the Tropics crafts a detailed history of ice and refrigeration to reveal the operations of thermal colonialism in Hawai?i." - Mariko Chin Whitenack, Catalyst

"Cooling the Tropics is an engaging text that will make generative reading for anyone interested in the relationship between foodways and colonial history but may hold specific interest for those interested in technological development and thermal media." - Briand Gentry, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies