FOUR NATIVE HAWAIIAN SCHOLARS HAVE BEEN selected as 2014-2015 Mellon-Hawai`i Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellows to pursue original research and advance their academic careers. Mellon fellows gather at Pahala Plantation House annually to share their research. The Mellon-Hawai`i Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, now in its seventh year, recognizes and supports the work of Native Hawaiian academics early in their careers and others who are committed to the advancement of knowledge about the Hawaiian natural and cultural environment, Hawaiian history, politics and society. The program provides a stipend and mentoring to enable doctoral fellows to complete their dissertations before accepting their first academic posts and postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to publish original research early in their academic careers. Doctoral Fellow Noelani Puniwai, Ph.D. candidate in the Natural Resources and Environmental Management program at University of Hawai`i at Manoa, evaluates how and why different ocean user groups socially construct and delineate marine space just as coastal areas are ecologically delineated through definitions of functional space. Doctoral Fellow Liza Keanuenueokalani Williams, Ph.D. candidate in the American Studies Department at New York University, focuses on ways that tourism, the military and the prison industrial complex shape cultural politics for Kanaka Maoli both historically and in the contemporary moment. Postdoctoral Fellow Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Environmental Research, Stanford University, examines combining traditional and modern knowledge of land management to evaluate corporate and policy decisions from a social utility, rather than an economic, basis. Postdoctoral Fellow Rebecca Ilima Luning, Ph.D., Cultural and Educational Specialist in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa and the Project Coordinator of the Mohala Na Pua Program at the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence, researches Hawaiian ethnotheory of learning through analyzing Hawaiian cultural practitioners’ and classroom educators’ teaching philosophies, cultural goals, values, and purposes of learning in a modern Hawaiian context. “Over the years we have been impressed by the thoughtfulness and relevance of the topics that the Mellon-Hawai`i Fellows have chosen to engage in their advanced studies and academic publishing,” said Dr. Matthew M. Hamabata, president and chief executive office of The Kohala Center. “The seventh cohort is certainly no exception. In covering issues such as contemporary Hawaiian pedagogy, land and natural resource management and the commodification of Native Hawaiian culture, land and people, this year’s fellows are addressing some of the most critical topics in Hawai`i today. They, and the fellows before them, are Hawai`i’s emerging intellectual leaders who will help chart a course for our islands’ future.” Applications are now being accepted for the 2015-2016 Mellon-Hawai`i Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Application materials and more information about the program are available online at MellonHawaii.org or by calling The Kohala Center at 887-6411. The deadline to apply is Feb. 27, 2015. See kohalacenter.org.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 00:56:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015