University of California, Berkeley (BA)
University of California, Santa Cruz (Ph.D)
Occupation(s)
Activist, author, educator
Notable work
Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity
Paradoxes of Hawaiian Sovereignty: Land, Sex, and the Colonial Politics of State Nationalism
Speaking of Indigenous Politics: Conversations with Activists, Scholars, and Tribal Leaders
J. Kēhaulani Kauanui (born July 17, 1968) is an American author, radio producer and professor. She is one of six co-founders of the
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA).[1] A
Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) woman, Kauanui was raised in
California.
[1] She was awarded a
Fulbright (1994-1995) at the
University of Auckland in New Zealand where she was affiliated with the Māori Studies department.[2] Her research areas focus on indigeneity and race, settler colonialism, decolonization, anarchism, and gender and sexuality.[3][4]
Kauanui currently co-produces an anarchist politics program, “Anarchy on Air,”[7] which has aired on
WESU since 2014, and she was previous part of another anarchist radio collective called The Dream Committee that produced “Horizontal Power Hour” (which aired from 2010 to 2013).[8]
As one of the six co-founders[9] of the
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), from 2005 to 2008, Kauanui served on the steering committee[10] to establish the association. She was then elected to the interim council (2008-2009), followed by a three-year term as an elected member of the inaugural council (2009-2012).[11]
Speaking of Indigenous Politics: Conversations with Activists, Scholars, and Tribal Leaders (University of Minnesota Press 2018)
Paradoxes of Hawaiian Sovereignty: Land, Sex, and the Colonial Politics of State Nationalism (Duke University Press, 2018)
Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Duke University Press, 2008)
Essays in Books
Ethnographies of U.S. Empire, Eds. Carole McGranahan and John Collins (Duke University Press, 2018)
Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, Ed.
Joanne Barker (Duke University Press, 2017)
Formations of United States Colonialism, Ed. Alyosha Goldstein (Duke University Press 2014)
A Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements for Life, Land, and Sovereignty, Eds.
Noelani Goodyear-Ka’opua, Ikaika Hussey, Erin Kahunawaika′ala Wright (Duke University Press 2014)
Recognition, Sovereignty Struggles, and Indigenous Rights in the United States: A Sourcebook, Eds. Amy Den Ouden and Jean M. O’Brien (University of North Carolina Press 2013)
Decolonizing Native Histories: Collaboration, Knowledge, and Language in the Americas, Ed. Florencia E. Mallon (Duke University Press 2011)
Beyond the Frame: Women of Color and Visual Representation, Eds.
Neferti Tadiar, and
Angela Y. Davis (Palgrave Macmillan 2005)
Asian American Studies After Critical Mass, Ed. Kent Ono (Wiley-Blackwell 2005).
Journal Special Issues
“Sovereignty,” guest edited Retrospective in Cultural Anthropology (2017)
“Women Writing Oceania: Weaving the Sails of the Waka,” special issue of Pacific Studies (2007), co-edited with
Caroline Sinavaiana[1]
“Native Pacific Cultural Studies on the Edge,” special issue of The Contemporary Pacific (2001), co-edited with Vicente M. Diaz