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Joshua Acosta

Joshua Acosta  
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Guotong Li
Campus
CSU Long Beach
E-mail
Joshua.acosta@student.csulb.edu
Grade Level
Senior
Expected Date of Graduation
Spring 2021
Major
History
Doctoral Study Field of Interest
Humanities


Joshua’s research interest encompasses maritime history, specifically within the Pacific Ocean during the early modern period. He is particularly focused on the notion of subalternity, or the condition of being subordinate through colonization and other social, economic, and political structures of domination. By critically examining cross-cultural relationships of power, he seeks to reorient the agency of subaltern populations within the Pacific world. Joshua approaches his research through the lens of material and visual culture and how these mediums served to construct narratives of Pacific Islander and Asian ethnicity across maritime spaces. Joshua aims to increase the discourse of agency, power, and the representation of Pacific Islander and Asian communities. His recent work explores the material exchanges between Tahitians and European mariners in the late 18th century, which was featured at the inaugural Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium hosted by Johns Hopkins University.