Lehua Matsumoto

Lehua Matsumoto was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu. She holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Amherst College and a certificate of completion of the Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies program. As a Kanaka Maoli student with a background in technology, she is interested in the relationship between digital media and Indigenous cultural knowledge. While at Amherst College, she conducted research as part of the steering committee of the Digital Atlas of Native American Intellectual Traditions (DANAIT) network. She also helped develop the partner website to Our Beloved Kin (2019) by Lisa Brooks, www.ourbelovedkin.com, which features interactive maps of locations mentioned in the book. Through the award of a Five College Digital Humanities Fellowship, she developed a virtual reality exhibit of a section of the Amherst College campus meant to educate viewers via an immersive experience of Native fauna in the area. Beyond Amherst, Lehua has worked with the game development company Achimostawinan Games to build an Indigenous-led and Indigenous-centered video game. As a student at the University of Hawaii, Lehua is excited to investigate digital projects built by and/or for the Kanaka Maoli community and better understand how technology may intricately affect the spread of cultural knowledge and values.
Category
Current Graduate Students