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Nakem 2025
The 20th Nakem International Conference
Academic Host: University of Hawai'i at Manoa Ilokano Program
Venue: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Dates: November 19-21, 2025 (Conference), November 22 (Gala Night)
Organized by:
The University of Hawai'i at Manoa Ilokano Program, NAKEM International, NAKEM California, NAKEM Philippines, NAKEM Without Borders, NAKEM Canada, & NAKEM Hawai'i
ADVISORIES
ADVISORY 01
Information needed when applying for visa interview.
ADVISORY 02
Scheduling an interview for the required visa for travel.
ADVISORY 03
Payment of registration fee.
ADVISORY 04
Fees to be paid.
ADVISORY 05
Board and lodging information.
ADVISORY 06
Process and procedures for U.S. Visa.
ADVISORY 07
Hotel options near UH Manoa.
ADVISORY 08
Dinner not provided during conference.
ADVISORY 09
Transportation to Gala Night.
ADVISORY 010
General transportation needs.
ADVISORY 011
Reissuing Advisories 3, 4 & 5.
ADVISORY 012
Submission of Full Paper and Presentation Materials.
ADVISORY 013
Dresscode for Opening and Gala Night.
ADVISORY 014
When Sending Money Through Western Union.
ADVISORY 015
Equipment, Transportation to Gala, and WiFi access during the Conference.
NAKEM CELEBRATES 20 YEARS!
Made possible by NAKEM Consortium, UH Ilokano Program, and NAKEM Hawaii
CALL FOR PAPERS
NAKEM CONFERENCES
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII MANOA
November 19–22, 2025 in Honolulu, Hawaii
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS:
31 JULY 2025
THEME
Coming Full Circle: Reevaluating Language Justice, Cultural Democracy & Emancipatory Education
The international transdisciplinary conference revisits the raison d'etre of the founding of NAKEM Conferences as an advocacy organization during the 100th year of the coming of the first llokanos to Hawaii to work in the pineapple and sugarcane plantations. These llokano workers who came in 1906 were later joined by non-llokanos, the Visayans in particular, in 1909, and since then, these indentured workers lived mediated and "remaindered" lives. Elsewhere in the world, the fate of various languages, cultures, and communities deemed not "no national" has been a matter of political and pedagogical calculus, with non-national languages rendered unimportant and, for some, not worth preserving and perpetuating. The homogenizing policy of nations, nation-states, and countries and their ideological apparatus has inaugurated the opposite of language justice, cultural democracy, and liberatory education.