Voluminous blue expanses of ocean, tropical beaches and palm trees, lost treasures and pirates, cannibals, remote rainforests—the Pacific has been tirelessly represented in utopian, exotic terms. In this course, we will explore both these and alternative stories of this ocean. We will begin by reading Herman Melville’s Typee alongside clips from the TV series Lost and Milton Muruyama’s narrative of life on Hawai‘i plantations, All I Asking for is My Body. We will then move consider literature and other media of the ecological upheavals that are reshaping life in the Pacific. We will read Hawaiian poetry about marine “families,” explore media about deforestation in Indonesia, and consider Sia Figiel’s Where We Once Belonged, a novel of Pacific places awash with plastic and other debris. Lastly will consider literary and filmic imaginaries of the futures of ocean living, from surfing cultures to cities through climate change.