My research and teaching all approach the intersection of race, the environment, and legacies of war through a cultural studies practice. These interests emerged out of my familyʻs own experiences with both U.S. and Japanese imperial projects across Asia and the Pacific Islands, specifically in Hawaiʻi and Okinawa. Central to my work is thus a personal commitment to researching and writing about legacies of war and militarism in Hawaiʻi, where I was born and raised, and Okinawa, where I trace some of my genealogical connection to.

My current book project, Atmospheres of Relief: Air and Militarism in the Pacific Ocean, investigates air across Asia and the Pacific Islands as a site of U.S.-Japanese interimperial violence that is actively contested through movements for demilitarization and sovereignty built around air, breath, and wind. One chapter of this project was recently published in American Quarterly. You can find more of my work in Amerasia Journal, Verge: Studies in Global Asias, and Critical Ethnic Studies Journal.

I was born and raised on Oʻahu, so I am truly excited to be returning home as an Assistant Professor of American Studies. I earned my BA and MA in English from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and my Ph.D. in American Studies & Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. Prior to my appointment at UH Mānoa, I was a UC President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Critical Race & Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Contact

amstgrad@hawaii.edu
Moore 324
Tel:  (808) 956-8570