Topic: Exploring the Blue Humanities at Drury University: Technology, Cultural Expansion, and the Making of Pacific Worlds

Paper #1: Dr. Michael Verney

“‘To Scare Them into Propriety and Truth’: The U.S. Navy’s North Pacific Exploring Expeditions to Japan and the Empire of Law, 1846–1856” Dr. Verney examines how nineteenth-century maritime technologies—clipper ships, expanded whaling fleets, and new steam lines—enabled two major U.S. naval expeditions to Japan. His talk traces how these ventures used diplomacy, intimidation, and the imposition of Western legal norms to open Japanese ports and extend U.S. commercial influence across the Pacific.

Paper #2: Dr. Patrick Moser

“From ‘Girlfriend’ Boards to Artificial Wave Pools: How Technology Is Diversifying Surfing in America” Dr. Moser explores how innovations in surfboard materials after World War II transformed surfing into a national phenomenon by lowering barriers of access for young people and women. He then considers how today’s artificial wave pools continue this trend toward inclusivity while also raising questions about cost, cultural appropriation, and the reshaping of a Hawaiian tradition.