The UHM Ethnomusicology program continues to assert its global presence through the work of its distinguished faculty and emeriti, whose scholarship and leadership resonate across international stages.
At the forefront, Professor Emeritus Dr. Ricardo D. Trimillos has been invited as keynote speaker for the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance Performing Arts of Southeast Asia (PASEA) symposium in Chiang Mai, Thailand (July 2–8, 2026). His keynote, “Dance and Music as Heritage: Tools of the Strong and Weapons of the Weak,” will examine how performance functions as identity and empowerment for both majority and minority cultures.
Also presenting at the PASEA conference is Dr. R. Anderson Sutton and graduate students Paul Cosme, Mieke Doezema, and José R. “Pow” Taton, Jr., who will present their research. Their participation highlights the department’s strong mentorship and the active role of its students in international scholarly discourse.
Dr. Yuan-Yu Kuan further extends the programʻs global reach. Invited by Academia Sinica in Taiwan to present at the “Way Finding Workshop on Relational Navigation between Taiwan and Oceania” (March 14–18, 2026), his paper, “Musicking as Sonic Way Finding; Sound Relation and Orientation in Island Worlds,” explores how sound serves as a form of navigation and connection across island cultures. The workshop brought together leading scholars from across the Pacific, including former UHM Professor Katerina Teaiwa.
Professor Kuan’s work is also featured in the recent anthology China Sounds Across Borders: Migration, Mobility and Modernity (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2026), co-edited by UHM Professor Emeritus Frederick Lau. His chapter highlights contemporary Indigenous musical exchanges across Oceania.