Dr. Donald Rubinstein, one of the most important scholarly voices in the field of Micronesian Studies

Dr. Donald Rubinstein, one of the most important scholarly voices in the field of Micronesian Studies and also a strong supporter of the Guam Museum by most recently serving on our KOSAS Advisory Board, passed away last week.

Dr. Rubinstein first came to the Trust Territory islands in the 1970s as a graduate student and lived and conducted field work in the outer islands of Yap and Chuuk. He earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Hawai’i and later a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. He began working at the University of Guam in 1988 and remained there until his death, serving primarily as faculty in the Micronesian Studies Program and at the Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC).

Dr. Rubinstein published widely on social organization and social change in Micronesia, helping to create some of the earliest formal academic articles around issues such as abortion, gender identity and adolescent suicide in different Micronesian communities. His work is considered foundational for anyone writing about Micronesian cultures in a social science, anthropological or historical context.

Dr. Rubinstein also had a love for visual culture, and was the foremost expert in the region on the work of Paul Jacoulet, a French artist who created iconic color woodblock portraits of people in Micronesia in the 1930s and 1940s. In 2017, he gave a HITA Talk at the Guam Museum titled “Paul Jacoulet: A Vision of Micronesia.” In his later years he also wrote on issues such as the cultural significance of endangered species threatened by development and militarization, Micronesian ethnomathematics and traditional seafaring and wayfinding.

The Guam Museum offers our condolences to Dr. Rubinstein’s partner Aaron.

In agradesi todu i bidå-ña si Doktot Rubinstein para i museon Guåhan yan para i taotao yan i islas Micronesia. U såga gi minahgong.