Halena Kapuni-Reynolds

Halena Kapuni-Reynolds (Kanaka ʻŌiwi/Native Hawaiian) is the Associate Curator of Native Hawaiian History and Culture at the National Museum of the American Indian. He was born on the island of Hawaiʻi and raised in the Hawaiian Home Land community of Keaukaha in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Halena graduated from the department of American Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Spring of 2024 after defending his dissertation titled Kuʻu Home O Keaukaha: He Lei Moʻolelo No Ka ʻĀina Aloha (My Home, Keaukaha: A Lei Of Stories For Beloved Lands). His project tells the story of Keaukaha before and soon after the establishment of a Hawaiian Home Land community, and envisions what a cultural center might look like for the community. Halena also holds a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Denver. His research interests center around Hawaiian history and culture, Indigenous museology, and public history.