Phillip McArthur

Associate Professor and Dean, College of Language, Culture, and Arts

Dean's Office
College of Language, Culture, and Arts
BYU Hawaii, McKay 108B
55-220 Kulanui Street #1910
Laie, HI 96762
(808) 675-3907
Email: mcarthup@byuh.edu

Education:

Ph.D. Folkloristics, Indiana University
M.A. Folkloristics, Indiana University
B.A. Anthropology, Brigham Young University
A.A.S Psychology, Ricks College

Contact Information:

Email: mcarthup@byuh.edu--Phone: 808-675-3907--Office: MCK 108B 

Phillip McArthur

Research:

Dr. McArthur's research emphasizes social theoretical and semiotic approaches to traditional narrative (i.e. myth, oral history), cultural performance (ritual, ceremony, festival, spectacle), history, cosmology, and local cultures within the contexts of nationalism and globalization. With a geographical specialization in Oceania, he additionally includes comparative studies on cultures of Asia, Native America, Africa and the Classical world. He also integrates deep interests in comparative philosophy, the history of ideas, and traditional arts informed by ethnographic and historical methods.

Teaching:

Dr. McArthur's teaching represents a wide-range of topics centered in theory, cultural studies, and expressive culture. In each course he seeks to fuse anthropology, humanistic inquiry and communications perspectives. While Oceania provides one geographical focus, he seeks to bring to bear a comparative perspective into the classroom through exposure to a range of cross-cultural materials. He desires to continue to develop curriculum that engages students to think about culture in critical and thought-provoking ways. In this way students learn to develop culture sensitivity and insight to function productively within academics, the private sector, government, and the community.

Classes:

ICS 251: Introduction to Cultural Studies Theory
WHC 391: Narrative, Identity, and Culture
ICS 261: Cultures of Oceania
WHC 425: Performance Studies
WHC 201H: Western Culture I Honors
ICS 491/492 Senior Seminars