Educator, award-winning musician, Hawaiian language advocate.
Kainani Kahaunaele does it all. A proud alumna-turned-employee of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, she credits much of her success to former mentors and peers who have fostered her knowledge of both Hawaiian language and culture.
Born and raised on Kauaʻi, Kahaunaele graduated from Kapaʻa High School, and enrolled at Kauaʻi Community College, at which her steadfast interest in her Kānaka Maoli heritage manifested into a membership in the school’s Hawaiian club.
I have to be the example that Hawaiian is a living language that you can apply in all facets of your life.
Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to experience
Hua Maka, the new weekly video series by University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo students designed to give viewers an immersive approach to learning ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, or the Hawaiian language, using common Hawaiian words and place names found in Hilo and Hawaiʻi Island. Quick, digestible lessons in Hawaiian language are being offered through the Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani, College of Hawaiian Language (
KHʻ
In celebration of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Month (Hawaiian Language Month),
UH Hilo’s social media platforms (@uhhilo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube). Plans are also underway to broadcast the audio portion on University Radio Hilo,
UH Mānoa programs.
Lance Collins and
Zachary Lum, features 11 Filipino folk songs translated into ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and two Hawaiian songs sung in Ilokano. Proceeds will benefit the Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic in the William
Collins, an attorney on Maui, earned five degrees from
UH his last was a
PhD in political science in 2010. Lum, a founding member of the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning group Keauhou, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
UH Mānoa, and is currently pursuing his
PhD in political science.
“The goal of the project is to think of the futures of Hawaiʻi that aren’t necessarily mediated by the American experience and aren’t necessarily limited to plantation narratives, which is basically a derivative from the American story in Hawaiʻi,” Collins said. “The idea was to think of alternative futures where people who come to Hawaiʻi interact with the Hawaiian culture and language without the racial hierarchies or the media