UM Institute for Social Change 2023

This week (May 10) I had the opportunity to serve on a panel for the University of Michigan Institute for Social Change alongside Dr. Lilia Cortina (University of Michigan) and Dr, Rahul Mitra (Wayne State University). I am honored to have been invited to join alongside these outstanding senior scholars and learned so much from each of them in our time together.

Thank you to Dr. Joseph Cialdella for your work with the Rackham Program in Public Scholarship and for the Institution for Social Change in particular.

The Institute for Social Change (ISC) is a cohort-based spring program that allows students to explore the conceptual and practical dimensions of public scholarship—the diverse ways we can create and circulate knowledge for and with publics and communities. The program introduces graduate students to an array of publicly engaged scholarship, pedagogy, and practices focused on social change and university-community partnerships.

As a doctoral student, I participated in the Rackham Program in Public Scholarship and highly recommend the programs to those who are at the University of Michigan. This program has helped me to think about my pedagogy, my commitments to social justice, and my actions towards public scholarship and also also funded my work with the Teen STEAM Cafe Project, a public scholarship partnership with the Ypsilanti District Library.

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Click here to learn more about the Rackham Program in Public Scholarship

Click here to learn more about the Institute for Social Change

Click here to learn more about the Community Engaged Course Design Workshop (previously the Engaged Pedagogy Initiative)

Click here to learn more about the Rackham Public Scholarship Grants

UM AAPI Commencement 2023

Congratulations to all the graduates!

This year I was honored to join the platform party for the University of Michigan Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commencement ceremony. I am very grateful to be a part of the APID/A community here. Even as a member of the platform party, it is so affirming to be a witness to the accomplishments of so many AAPI students and to sit amongst those who came before me. Thank you!

And thank you to Dr. Melissa Borja for an inspiring commencement address.

UM Bouchet Honor Society Reception

Last Friday the University of Michigan 2023 Bouchet Honor Society inductees had an opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments with friends, family, and community members at the Rackham Bouchet Honor Society Reception here in Ann Arbor.

I was so energized to learn about my colleague’s amazing and transformative work in their different fields through their 3-Minute Thesis presentations.

As we continue to learn more about each other and our work, I hope that we continue to grow in community with each other. I look forward to the many ways that we will lift each other up and cheer each other on in the future.

Thank you to Dr. Ethriam Brammer, LaTasha Mitchell, and Askari Rushing for creating this opportunity to share our work and to continue to celebrate each other.

University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School Bouchet Honor Society Reception and 2023 Inductee 3-Minute Thesis Presentations

Bouchet Honor Society 2023

This weekend I was inducted into the Bouchet Honor Society!

I am honored to be associated with Dr. Bouchet’s legacy and humbled to be joining alongside this amazing group of scholars from the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School.

UM Bouchet Honor Society 2023:
Gabrielle Elizabeth Bernal (Educational Studies)
Nagash Clark (Engineering Education)
Azya Philomena Croskey (Chemical Biology)
Laura-Ann Jacobs (National Center for Institutional Diversity)
Shana D. Littleton (Clinial Pharmacy)
Saraí Blanco Martinez (Combined Program of Education and Psychology)
Sierra A. Nance (Molecular and Integrative Physiology)
Aaron J. Neal (Psychology)
Adriana Ponce (Sociology)
Michole Washington (Educational Studies)

Click here to learn more about this year’s University of Michigan inductees

Thank you to Dr. Ethriam Brammer, LaTasha Mitchell, and Askari Rushing for all of your work in making this such a wonderful, memorable, joyful, and celebratory experience.

Description:

Named for the first African American doctoral recipient in the United States (Physics, Yale University, 1876), the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (Bouchet Society) recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate. The Bouchet Society is a network of preeminent scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support and serve as examples of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academy. In the spirit of Bouchet’s commitment to these ideals, inductees into the honor society must demonstrate significant achievement in these five areas.

Click here to learn more about the Bouchet Honor Society at the University of Michigan
Click here to learn more about the Bouchet Honor Society Conference at Yale

University of Michigan SOE Commencement 2022

A year after completing my doctoral program… I finally get to walk at commencement!

Congratulations to all the graduates. And thank you to each and every person who has cheered me on, held space for me, and lifted me to this day of celebration!

Thank you to my advisor, Dr. Enid Rosario-Ramos, for everything that you have done to support me and to make this day and many other days possible.

Thank you to Dr. Debi Khasnabis for your support and friendship for many years. I am happy to share this special day with you!

University of Michigan API Commencement 2022

I am honored to participate in the University of Michigan’s Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Commencement as a member of the platform party!

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Thank you for Drs. Marie Ting and Mary Rose for your mentorship, support, and encouragement during my first year as a postdoctoral research fellow with the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) and the Anti-Racism Collaborative (ARC).

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And shout out to my fellow postdoc, Dr. Dominique Adams-Santos (Postdoctoral Senior Research Fellow & Associate Director of the Center for Racial Justice at the Ford School of Public Policy)!

Thank you for sharing this joyful day together!

CREATE Center Conversation Series

CREATE Center Conversation Series

Conducting Critical Qualitative Dissertation Data Research Online: Challenges and Creative Opportunities

We invite you to join us for an engaging and informative conversation about strategies for conducting critical qualitative dissertation research online amidst the continued complexities of the pandemic. Current doctoral students at different stages of their online dissertation work will share their critical reflections, wisdom, and tips to lend peer mentoring and support to other students. Participants will speak to the challenges and creative opportunities of engaging students, educators, schools, and communities in research, whether locally, across the U.S., or internationally. This student-centered event will be moderated by recent School of Education alumna Dr. Laura-Ann Jacobs. While we will prioritize offering other students who attend the session the opportunity to dialogue with the participants, insights shared will surely enrich faculty and staff too. Together, session participants will offer diverse perspectives given their distinct positionalities, different research designs, and varied research topics. Their topics span K-12, community-based, and higher education matters. All are welcome!

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Reuben is a fourth-year doctoral candidate studying Higher Education at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE). His research interests include college access, enrollment management, sense of belonging, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Reuben is committed to expanding college access for first-generation, low-income, and students of color, in addition to helping students navigate the challenges of a rapidly-changing higher education landscape.

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Paulina is a doctoral candidate in Educational Studies at the School of Education. As a first-generation Filipina American, Paulina's dissertation project is centered on historical preservation, community partnerships, and collaborative education, specifically focusing on Filipinx communities. She also works with the Ginsberg Center where she facilitates workshops to support students doing community-engaged work.

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Andwatta Barnes is a former elementary school, adult school, and university lecturer currently working towards her PhD in the Teaching and Teaching Education program at the University of Michigan. Her research currently focuses on examining issues surrounding racialized teacher identity across international teaching contexts. Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, her professional experiences involved teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Japan and China; teaching English literature and assessment as an English Language Fellow (ELF) in Qatar; pre-service teacher education and ESL at the university level in the United Arab Emirates; and several years as an assessment specialist developing standardized assessments in the areas of ESOL teacher licensure and English language proficiency at Educational Testing Service (ETS).

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Margaret O. Hanna is a doctoral candidate of Literacy, Language and Culture at the University of Michigan School of Education and former bilingual elementary school teacher. She is an instructor of elementary teacher education and a collaborator in school-university partnerships and urban community-focused literacy initiatives. Her area of inquiry is focused on family engagement through literacy programs in school and community-based settings. She believes that care and building community are tools for resisting systemic inequality.

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Laura-Ann is a postdoctoral research fellow with the National Center for Institutional Diversity Stepping uP Against Racism and Xenophobia (SPARX) Project. Laura-Ann graduated in 2021 from the University of Michigan with a doctorate in Educational Studies with a specialization in Literacy, Language, and Culture. Her dissertation focused on preparing secondary English Language Arts teachers for antiracist pedagogical change. Her current work centers around how people individually and collectively translate our stated commitments of justice into action for the purpose of social change.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow: NCID SPARX Project

Tomorrow I will be starting my first day as a postdoctoral research fellow with the University of Michigan Anti-Racism Collaborative working at the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) working on the Stepping uP Against Racism and Xenophobia (SPARX) Project. I will be working with Drs. Deborah Rivas-Drake and Enrique Neblett.

I am very humbled by this opportunity and am excited for the many things that I will learn in the coming year and for all the ways that I can't even yet imagine that I will grow.

I am also filled with gratefulness for the support and encouragement from my friends and community as I worked to complete my doctoral program and my dissertation. I am beyond happy to have this opportunity to do something that feels purposeful to me in a place that is meaningful to me--and my greatest hope is that I can make a contribution.

Click to see the announcement in the University Record

Click here to learn more about the University of Michigan Anti-Racism Collaborative

Click here to learn more about the National Center for Institutional Diveristy

Dissertation Proposal Defense

I have successfully defended my dissertation proposal!

The tentative title for my dissertation is Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Racial Literacy Instruction in Secondary Teacher Education. I would like to thank my committee members (Drs. Enid Rosario-Ramos, Michelle Bellino, Maren Oberman, and Ruth Behar) for their help and support through this process.

Rackham Public Scholarship Grant

I am proud to announce a partnership between the University of Michigan and the Ypsilanti District Library Downtown Branch! Ashley Jackson and I have had the opportunity to work with Teen Services Librarian Kelly Scott at the Ypsilanti District Library for the past few years. Together, we applied for the Rackham Public Scholarship Grant to fund a teen-driven program called STEAM Cafe. Read more about the program below!

Educational studies doctoral students Ashley Jackson and Laura-Ann Jacobs received a Rackham Public Scholarship Grant for a project with the Ypsilanti District Library. In partnership with Youth and Teen Librarian Kelly Scott and the library’s Teen Advisory Group, they will create a Teen STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Cafe program.

Guest speakers will discuss their work, explain how they came to be in that career, and host activities related to their career. In collaboration with the library’s Teen Advisory Group, Teen STEAM will also offer access to opportunities to learn about and create media projects through experimentation and professional guidance.

Congratulations to our cohort of grant recipients!

Kathryn Berringer
Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology and Social Work
“An Organizational and Community History of LGBTQ Organizing in Detroit”

Peter DeJonge
Ph.D. Candidate, Epidemiology
“Enhancing Data Collection and Utilization Within a Local Child Care Illness Surveillance Network”

Maggie Hanna
Ph.D. Student, Educational Studies
“Creando Juntos: Community Language and Literacy Support (CLLS)”

Megh Marathe
Ph.D. Candidate, Information
“Voices of Epilepsy”

Kayla Fike and Ozge Savas
Ph.D. Students, Psychology and Women’s Studies
“Community Language Advocacy Program” (CLAP)

Click here to learn more about this year’s grant recipients.
Click here to learn more about our grant.

Advancing to Candidacy

I am advancing to candidacy this fall!

Women of Color & The Academy

For the 2018-2019 academic year I will be co-coordinating a Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop with my dear friend and colleague Ebony Perouse-Harvey (doctoral candidate, University of Michigan). I am excited to continue my fun and rigorous work with Ebony and our faculty sponsors Dr. Maisie Gholson (University of Michigan) and Dr. Maren Oberman (University of Michigan). Our workshop is titled "Women of Color & The Academy: Exploring Race, Research, Representation, and Positionality." 

This workshop series brings together education scholars and practitioners to examine issues related to race, research, and representation. Participants of this group work in various fields that intersect with education. Our work across these fields provides us varying insights into the representation and positioning of women of color within and outside of the university.  This workshop has two primary objectives:
- To expand what is considered to be academic by exposing the larger community to works created by or featuring women of color
- To provide spaces where women of color can engage deeply with issues that impact them personally and professionally in a way that is responsive to their identities, time, and energies

Click here to view the website for Women of Color & The Academy: Exploring Race, Research, Representation, and Positionality

Click here to learn more about Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops

American Anthropology Association 2018

I will be presenting at the 2018 American Anthropological Association (AAA) Conference. The conference will take place in San Jose, California in November. I will be presenting my installation "Talking Lei" on Saturday, November 17 from 2:00pm-4:00pm.

Abstract:

Talking Lei is a multimedia storytelling installation that explores the process of lei making as a metaphor for the embodiment of the connectedness of storytelling in physical space. This installation includes a gallery of autoethnographic written vignettes and visual arts elements. The written vignettes address issues of race, culture, and kinship. The visual arts elements include light boxes, photographs, and watercolor paintings. This installation includes a performance element in the form of interactive lei making that is ongoing throughout the installation.

Talking lei is an autoethnographic study that explores local Hawaiian identity, local Hawaiian knowledge, and the everyday practices of teaching and learning in contemporary Hawai’i. This project centers the importance of researcher identity, positionality, and reflexivity. In particular, the researcher considers how her positionality as a hānai (adopted) daughter in the context of Hawai'i intersects with her identity as a Korean Adoptee raised in the American South to create the unique experience of a twice-adopted daughter. The written vignettes of this installation examine the researcher’s identity and positionality in the context of this ethnographic study of local Hawaiian knowledge.

This installation includes an interactive lei making performance. The researcher will make hakulei, a style of lei created by bundling flowers and wrapping them together. This installation extends this metaphor of bundling and wrapping into physical space: the multimedia elements are displayed in a lei around the room, and visitors are encouraged to move freely throughout the space and interact with these pieces in whichever order they choose, creating a narrative lei of their own.

As an autoethnographic multimedia storytelling installation, Talking Lei considers emerging and unconventional understandings of methods and representation that can contribute to the ways researchers enact qualitative methodologies and envision future research. 

This installation was supported by the Rackham Graduate School and the Center for World Performance Studies at the University of Michigan. The written vignettes and photographs are produced by Laura-Ann Jacobs (University of Michigan). The watercolor art is produced by Katie Wong (University of Hawai’i, Manoa).

Click here to learn more about the American Anthropology Association
 

Literacy Research Association 2018

I will be presenting at the 2018 Literacy Research Association (LRA) Conference. The conference will take place in Indian Wells, California in November. I will be presenting with Dr. Annemarie Palincsar, Gabriel DellaVecchia, Kathleen Easley, and Maggie Hanna. Our paper is titled "Historical inquiry to promote community identity at LRA." We will be presenting in the session "Critical understanding of current trends and issues in literacy research."

My portion of the presentation focuses on the history of disciplinary literacy.

Abstract:

This historical inquiry uses the three most recent volumes of the Handbook of Reading Research and the most recent volume of the Handbook of Writing Research to examine developments in the field of disciplinary literacy over the past three decades. This inquiry focuses on the scope of the field of disciplinary literacy research, the influence of theory in the field, and the connection of theory to methodology. This inquiry has three major findings: (1) disciplinary literacy is an emerging field in literacy research that is expanding in breadth and narrowing in depth, (2) disciplinary literacy research is shifting to align with sociocultural theory, and (3) disciplinary literacy research is shifting to qualitative research using ethnographic methods. The future of disciplinary literacy research is likely to continue these trends and is also likely to explore how context mediates literacy practices and assume a social justice stance.

Click here to learn more about the Literacy Research Association

GSCO/BET Conference 2018

I have been accepted to present my paper "Comedic Counterstories: Performing Marginality" at the GSCO/BET Conference on March 9, 2018 at the University of Michigan School of Education.

This year's theme is "Pushing Back and Lifting Up: Inspiring Change Through Educational Research, Policy, and Practice."

What does it mean to push back, lift up, and inspire change? At the School of Education, we are a community of engaged scholars who do work through research, policy, and practice that resists contemporary inequities in education; offers innovative responses to entrenched social problems; and employs methodological approaches that critically question status quo interpretations of the past, present, and future. We are dedicated to lifting one another up and providing inclusive opportunities for members of our community to advance their scholarship.

Thank you to University of Michigan doctoral students Crystal Wise and Ashley Jackson for organizing this event.

Click here to learn more about this year's conference.

Engaged Pedagogy Initiative

I have been accepted into the Engaged Pedagogy Initiative for Winter 2018. I look forward to this opportunity to work with this diverse interdisciplinary cohort. Throughout this program we will focus on engaged pedagogy, community-based learning, and public scholarship.

What is the Engaged Pedagogy Initiative?

The Engaged Pedagogy Initiative (EPI) The EPI is a semester-long community-based learning (CBL) graduate training program that promotes excellence in undergraduate teaching and graduate student professional development.

The EPI was established in 2014 through a collaboration between LSA's Community-Engaged Academic Learning (CEAL), the Residential College, and the Rackham School of Graduate Studies. Through the EPI, graduate students from across campus explore the theoretical foundations and ethical implications of CBL. In addition to creating a CBL course, participants present their key learning in a public form: the EPI Symposium.

Click here to learn more about the Engaged Pedagogy Initiative at the University of Michigan.

Click here to learn about the other EPI Fellows.

Laura-Ann Jacobs is a doctoral student in the School of Education specializing in Literacy, Language, and Culture. Prior to her doctoral program, Laura-Ann taught public high school English in South Carolina for six years. Laura-Ann’s research centers on youth identity and youth literacies and is driven by her belief that youth voices matter. Broadly, her research focuses on youth-created counter-stories. Her current work considers performance as a space of empowerment for youth of marginalized identities. In this work she explores storytelling in general and stand-up comedy in particular as productive sites of identity exploration and expression. As an EPI fellow, Laura-Ann hopes to create a curriculum that supports students in the creation of their own counterstories in the form of stand-up comedy sets.

Presentation: Talking Lei

Thank you to everyone who supported Talking Lei.

This installation was my final capstone project for the Rackham Graduate Certificate Program in World Performance Studies at the University of Michigan. This event took place at the School of Education on November 28, 2017.

This installation is a representation of my summer research in Hawaii in which I explored local Hawaiian identity through the teaching and learning of local knowledge. The project emerged as an autoethnography with multimedia components. 

I want to thank the women who are here to make lei: Patricia Garcia, Maggie Hanna, Ashley Jackson, Debi Khasnabis, Enid Rosario-Ramos, Jenny Sawada, and Amber Sizemore. 

This project is an exploration of storytelling. These women are a part of my story, my journey. My story is not complete without them. This project would not be possible without them. They have shown up for me tonight, a symbol for the support and love that they have given to me throughout my time here at the University of Michigan. I would not be who I am without them. And I want to take a moment to thank them for being a part of my life.

I also want to take a moment to thank my hanai sister, Katie Wong, who created the watercolor title cards for each of the pieces. While she is not present in body, it does make me smile to see her presence scattered throughout this room.

I wrote that this project explores the process of lei making as a metaphor for the embodiment of the connectedness of storytelling in physical space. I recognize that we are at the School of Education and that this type of presentation is not conventional for this space. So I am going to do a bit more of an introduction than I would if this piece existed as an installation somewhere else. 

The women today are making hakulei by bundling flowers and wrapping them together. This project extends this practice into metaphor. Today to create this project, I have gathered women who are important and beautiful to me, I have bundled them together to make lei, and I am wrapping them together through the context of this performance.

My writing is displayed in a circle, a lei, around the room. I encourage you all to move freely throughout the space and to interact with these pieces in whichever order you choose. The vignettes are not meant to be read in sequence. The individual pieces of this project are as important as the work as a whole. As you move through the space to read these stories, you add another layer of connectedness: your own. You become a part of this story as well.

CWPS Capstone Presentations

Upcoming Event:  Center for World Performance Studies Graduate Student Capstone Presentations

My presentation is part of a larger event featuring the work of this year's CWPS Graduate Fellows. Session I: Laura-Ann Jacobs (Education), Alyssa Wells (Musicology), Ellen Myers (Southeast Asian Studies), and Fabiola Torralba (Dance). Session II: Kiran Bhumber (Performing Arts Technology), AJ Covey (Percussion), Sydney Schiff (Dance), Adam Shead (Improvisation).

Session I scheduled for Tuesday, November 28th at 6:00pm in Prechter Lab at the School of Education.

Talking Lei is a performance-based storytelling installation centered around flowers. The installation features a community of women talking story while creating lei kūpeʻe (wrist lei) in the wili (wrapping) style and includes a gallery of autoethnographic work by LA Jacobs. This project explores the process of lei making as a metaphor for the embodiment of the connectedness of storytelling in physical space.

CWPS Student Spotlight

School of Education doctoral student Laura-Ann Jacobs uses the Performance Studies framework to look at youth performance of identity, in and out of the classroom.

Six years into teaching in a public school in South Carolina, second year PhD student Laura-Ann Jacobs was looking for a change, but wasn’t sure she was ready to give up teaching for graduate work. After exploring programs at the University of Michigan School of Education on the recommendation of a friend, she found an exciting fit in the Educational Studies Program in Literacy, Language and Culture, where she could continue to explore questions of youth identity in the classroom, and to build a foundation for future teaching, learning and leadership in youth development and education for high school students. As a proactive grad student, Jacobs took some time to peruse the additional Certificates offered through Rackham Graduate School, and found the Certificate in World Performance Studies to be an intriguing option. Laura-Ann participated in improvised and devised theater throughout her undergraduate and previous graduate work, and saw an opportunity to look at identity from a performative framework that could augment her research in Educational Studies.

Expecting a room full of anthropologists and social scientists, she was admittedly a little surprised to realize during the first class session that many of her colleagues in this year’s Grad Cohort are in performance programs in music and dance. Ultimately, the opportunity to explore issues in Performance Studies with a diverse mix of researchers and practitioners proved to be one of the greatest assets of the program for her; Jacobs says, “I have had to practice articulating myself across unfamiliar communities, which has helped me find the right words to be very specific about what I mean and what I’m doing.” This holds equally true for explaining Performance Studies to School of Ed peers and explaining education concepts to her cohort in World Performance Studies. She has found many strong connections between the two disciplines, noting that issues addressed in performance theory are in some ways the most relevant to her research, particularly because there is so much research about performance of identity. She has also found a strong parallel in looking at literacy in everyday life and making meaning from symbols, particularly citing the work of Dwight Conquergood. While Jacobs thought the Certificate would just be a “peripheral add on”, it has become deeply intertwined in her work, and the Performance Studies literature makes up a conceptual framework for her research within the School of Ed.

During her summer research, Laura-Ann traveled to Hawaii, where she originally planned to observe how Hawaiian identity, both local and native, is performed by youth. When the arts-based youth program she was hoping to work with did not get their grant funding, she changed course and immersed herself in researching the transmission of local knowledge, histories and traditions. This included taking native knowledge classes, where a community of local women meet weekly to make leis and tell stories. Her in-field experience also led her to work more in autoethnography, stirring comparisons between her experience being adopted by a local Hawaiian family with her experience growing up adopted into a white family.  She emphasized the importance of this experience in helping her to think about her identity in her research-- what she brings, and how we perform as researchers.

Ultimately, Laura-Ann envisions a return to working with teens, doing arts-based programming outside of school, and continuing to work with performance of identity. You can see her Capstone Presentation on Tuesday, November 28 at the School of Education (SOE), Room 2202 (Prechter Lab), at 6pm.

Click here to read the Student Spotlight.

Special thanks to Ingrid Racine for writing this spotlight!

Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant

Proposal funded! "Local Hawaiian Counterstories" has been funded by the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School.

Project Introduction

In her work Staging tourism: Bodies on display from Waikiki to Sea World, Jane Desmond (1999) explores Hawaii as a “destination image” (p. 12); a place with an exotic and iconic image perpetuated through commodification and mass media (mis)representation. She juxtaposes two seemingly similar but distinctly different terms: Native Hawaiian and Hawaiian native. The former refers to “those of indigenous ancestry” and the latter refers to “the Euro-American imagery about the indigenous islanders” (p. 5). According to Desmond, this exoticised and commodified destination image of Hawaiian native culture eclipses authentic indigenous Native Hawaiian identity in the Hawaii tourism industry. Because of this eclipsing and commodified destination image, Hawaiian culture appears to Euro-American tourists as unchanged by modernity and exists for tourists as primitive paradise and a place of escape. Despite what tourists may perceive, Hawaii has changed. And despite the power of this destination image, Hawaii will continue to change.

Desmond’s (1999) two categories of Native Hawaiian and Hawaiian native culture help to distinguish between an indigenous ethnic identity and how that ethnic identity may be essentialized and performed for outsiders. However, Desmond’s two categories do not necessarily capture the diversity of cultural experience in Hawaii today. In this project, I will consider an additional identity: local Hawaiian. By this term I mean individuals who live permanently in Hawaii but who may or may not identify as Native Hawaiian. This term reflects a cultural identity rather than a racial or ethnic identity.

Through this project I hope to better understand what it means to be local Hawaiian in 2017. I am interested in learning how local Hawaiians perform their local Hawaiian identities, and I plan to investigate how these performances of local Hawaiian identity counter, challenge, and disrupt the destination image of Hawaiian native culture.

Research Question: How is local Hawaiian identity performed through counter-stories?
What do local Hawaiians consider to be characteristics of local Hawaiian identity?
What (mis)representation of local Hawaiian identity is being countered?
How do local Hawaiians use different forms of representation to perform their counter-stories?