Oral Histories of Seafaring for Climate Resilience
Graduate and undergraduate students interviewing seafaring practitioner Setareki Ledua, 2022
This community-based, interdisciplinary, and cross-campus project seeks to understand how the social institutions and networks embodied in Pacific seafaring systems once facilitated information exchange such as the sharing of models of customary resource management and mobilizing collective responses in times of uncertainty especially after disasters such as typhoons and extreme droughts. The project collects oral histories to document the stories, memories, and experiences of practitioners of seafaring in the Marshall Islands and throughout the Federated States of Micronesia, and facilitates conversations among stakeholders to develop a transferrable conceptual framework of community engagement that would contribute to the reestablishment of traditional transport and support the design of next generation sustainable sea transport, and foster conversations about the re-activation of the networks. At the center of this work are graduate students of the UH Hilo Heritage Management program and the UH Mānoa’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies who are working with their respective communities to advance the community-driven goals of developing climate change resilience through ancestral knowledge documented in oral histories with their elders. Their thesis projects include:
- Shania Tamagyongfal (2024) Thaaq (“Networking Relationships like Strings”): Using Oral Histories of Yapese Voyaging for Climate Resilience through Remathau Practices of Community Engagement.
- Jerolynn Myazoe (2025) Jemjem Māāl (“Honing the Spirit of Community”): Fostering Climate Resilience in the Marshall Islands through Oral Histories of Women’s Roles and the Practices of Community Engagement in Voyaging Interaction Networks.
- Jermy Uowolo (2025) Holohol: A Holistic Approach of Remathau Ancestral Seafaring Wisdom Towards Enhancing Post-disaster Community Resilience.
Researcher:
Graduate Students: Shania Tamagyongfal, Jerolynn Myazoe, Jermy Uowolo, Carol Ann Carl
Assistants: Trommaine Joab, Nathan Fagolmwai, Bethany Okamoto, Hōkū Brown
Meanings of Success for Pacific Islander Students in STEM
Poster presentations at the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM conference, 2023
The Islands of Opportuntiy Alliance (IOA) seeks to improve the success of students by cultivates a sense of belonging through STEM learning communities at 12 partner campuses. I serve as the Director of the IOA and the co-lead of a social science and education research project along with colleagues Tobias Irish (UH Hilo) and Leslie Aquino (University of Guam). This project explores meanings of success in STEM among the island communities of the IOA. A team of research apprentices from UH Hilo and UOG have conducting interviews sand focus groups to learn about their fellow students’ storied experiences, with the ultimate aim of infusing those ideas into the 12 STEM learning communities and other programs for culturally resonant pedagogies.
Researchers:
Assistants: Taecia Kukui Akana, Muturwan Choay, Eusebio Orot, Evangeline Lokebol, Junita Jetley, Rocelia Paulino, Gogo Hope, Shania Tamagyongfal, Jerolynn Myazoe, Dwayne Anefal, Yubee Isaac
Traditional Navigation and Alzheimer's Disease Research
Marshallese voyaging canoe Jitdam Kapeel
In collaboration with University College London, University of Stirling in Scotland, Harvard University, and Waan Aelon in Majol (Canoes of the Marshall Islands), this multi-disciplinary, collaborative project aims to gain an increased understanding of neurological disease, particularly the spatial disorientation of Alzheimer’s Disease, through the lens of mariner's knowledge of Marshallese seascapes, geographies of coral atolls, and orientation during inter-island voyaging. The project draws from the fields including physics, neuroscience, philosophy, anthropology, oceanography and computer science, and employs a model of knowledge production.
Researcher:
Graduate Students: Maria Ahmad, Jerolynn Myazoe
Computational Modeling of Ancient Seafaring
Students conducting oral histories with seafaring practitioners Alson Kelen and H. Larry Raigetal, 2022
In collaboration with Stanford University, Purdue University, University of Southampton, Carnegie Mellon University, and Harvard University, a team of UH Hilo graduate students, undergraduate students, and voyaging practitionrs from the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronsia particpiated in a series of workshops at Stanford University and later here at UH Hilo on computational archaeology, a field that uses computer-based analytical methods to model decision-making of seafarers in the remote past. Our delegation provided perspectives on using oral histories and lived experiences of Marshallese and Yapese voyaging to develop more nunaced models of seafaring.
Researcher:
Graduate Students: Shania Tamagyongfal, Jerolynn Myazoe, Jermy Uowolo, Carol Ann Carl, Torri Law
Assistants: Bethany Okamoto, Hōkū Brown, Nathan Fagolmwai
Cultural Revival of Marshallese Wave Piloting
Alson Kelen on the Marshallese canoe Jitdam Kapeel, 2015
Under the guidance of Ben Finney, co-founder of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, my PhD research (2005-2007) was an inter-disciplinary and collaborative project on the revitalization of voyaging and navigation in the Marshall Islands. Partnering with apprentice navigator Alson Kelen of the canoe building organization Waan Aelon in Majol (Canoes of the Marshall Islands) , this ongoing project involved working with navigator Captain Korent Joel and other experts to document their understanding of how islands can be remotely sensed from disrupted wave patterns. Alson Kelen and I are currently collaborating with oceanographer physicist John Huth from Harvard University and an international team of wave modelers to develop a computer simulation of the wave patterns (regional and from the perspective of the canoe), with the ultimate goal of facilitating the transfer of knowledge to the next generation of Marshallese mariners.
Researcher:
Marshallese Diaspora and Ethnic Tensions in Hawaiʻi
Mylast Bilimon, Conny Livai, Jr., and Attok Nashon attend a presentation in Vancouver
The purpose of this project is to explore the rising ethnic tensions between diasporic Marshallese and other local community members in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. The goal is to understand from a socio-cultural perspective the underlying reasons for the escalating forms of mutual stereotyping, anxieties, racial slurs, discrimination in such areas as education and health care, and open conflict such as bullying and violence in high school. We ultimately aim to use the results for educational outreach.
Researcher:
Assistants: Mylast Bilimon, Attok Nashon, Conny Livai, Jr.
Human–Dog Health Study in Hawaiʻi
The goal of this study is to examine the health of dog owners and their companion dogs, guard dogs, or hunting dogs in Hawaiʻi. We are examining the physiological responses of stress, through blood pressure readings of dog owner and cortisol in both dog and human, and its relationship to attitude toward dogs. The relevance of our proposed study is the applicability of the results not just for human health and well-being but towards a greater understanding of the cultural context of dog ownership in Hawaiʻi and how dogs are valued.
Researcher:
Assistants: Jojo Hill, Marina Kelley, Heather Bailey
Natural Disasters and Resiliency in Lower Puna
The purpose of this study is to examine resiliency among households and businesses in Puna affected by Tropical Storm Iselle and the June 27th lava flow in Pahoa.
Through open-ended interviews we are exploring the impact of these natural disasters, how residents have been coping, and perceptions of community and county response to each event. The overarching goal is to contribute to a greater understanding of how individuals in a rural community cope with the impact and threat of natural disasters of various duration and type. It is expected that the findings will be valuable for urban and community planning, evaluating disaster preparedness/response, and for establishing future community programs interested in disaster resiliency.
Researchers:
Assistants: Tyler Price, Marina Kelley
Hoʻopakele Heiau: Community-Based Archaeology in Hilo, Hawaiʻi
The purpose of this project is to protect a heiau (sacred site) adjacent to the Hilo Harbor, through partnerships with Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) community members, archaeologists, college students, and other stakeholders. The Hilo Harbor is currently expanding its facilities, with more development planned for the coming years, and the heiau at Baker’s Beach is immediately adjacent to the Harbor’s proposed development site. Through documentation (archival studies, photography, mapping, and interviews with elders) and sustained presence on the heiau site (regular clearing of vegetation), our group seeks to ensure the protection of one of the few remaining heiau known in the town of Hilo. To this end, our group, Hoʻopakele Heiau, has secured a Stewardship agreement with the State Historic Preservation Division, to formally take responsibility for the care of this cultural site.
Researchers:
David B. Lyman’s Papers
The purpose of this project is to publish a companion volume to Sarah Lyman’s papers, which was published a number of years ago and is available in the Lyman Museum’s gift shop. The Lyman Museum hopes to publish a selection of journals, letters, sermons, and reports written by missionary David B.Lyman in Hawaiʻi between 1831 and 1884. Lyman’s historically important papers have never been made available so Wolforth is editing David Lyman’s papers to add to the historical record of Hilo. The Lyman Museum hopes these writings will be useful to those who wish to view the changing social history of nineteenth century Hilo through the eyes of a missionary and educator.
Researcher:
Assistant: Nicole Cuison
Non-Destructive Sourcing of Polynesian Stone Tools
In the Spring of 2004 Dr. Mills began a long-term geoarchaeology project facilitated through a Major Research Instrumentation Grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0317528), which has been followed by two more related NSF grants. Mills works in collaboration with Dr. Steve Lundblad using non-destructive Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) to analyze basalt and volcanic glass artifacts using the Geoarchaeology Laboratory at UH Hilo.
Researchers:
Ethnographic Research in Japan and Vietnam
- Ethnohistory of the new religions of Japan during the pre-war period, the wartime period, and the US Occupation. Research during Fall 2015 supplements past researches into changes made by religious groups under political pressure. (September)
- A general cultural survey of Vietnam, in order to provide materials for an introduction to Vietnamese culture and society textbook. (November)
Researcher: