Aloha mai kākou (Greetings to all). My preferred name is Uluwehi, and I am a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) scholar from the island of Oʻahu in the archipelago of Hawaiʻi. My home waters are the Pacific Ocean, and I am thankful for the opportunity to experience this side of the world with the Environmental Humanities team.  

By western academic disciplines, I am a historian, having earned my PhD in History from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, focusing on the History of Hawaiʻi to 1900. However, my previous degrees are in the field of Hawaiian Studies, which gifted me an interdisciplinary approach to research that is deeply rooted in the culture and traditional knowledge of my ancestors. 

Using indigenous methodologies, my work engages with oral histories, cultural practices, language, and relationships with the environment as sources for historical examinations. My body of work explores water in Hawaiʻi: ontologies, social perceptions of environmental processes, rights, management, politics, and conflicts that arise from differing value and legal systems related to water. 

Here, at Universität Augsburg, I am engaging in discussions about Hawaiʻi and bringing indigenous perspectives into global conversations. More specifically, many discussions have reflected upon water and how various societies perceive its essence. This has led to research into the history of water in Augsburg, protests to protect the environment, water deities, wetlands discussions, cultural artifacts, traditional ecological knowledge, and most recently, diving into the Blue Humanities current. 

CV & selected Publications