Current Students
The following are select graduate degree candidates.
Ariel Mota Alves
Email: motaal2@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Post-development, Environmental Changes, Climate Change, Land Rights, Southeast Asia Politics, Timor-Leste Politics
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Samantha Marley Barnett
Email: smb2@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Chamoru Liberation, Demilitarization, Abolition, Indigenous Sovereignty
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Randizia Crisostomo
Email: rbcrisos@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Indigenous Resurgence, Pasifika Feminisms, Chamoru Agency/Activism in Guåhan, the Marianas and the Diaspora, De-occupation and Mili(Tourism) in Oceania, Inafa'maolek as Praxis
Advisor: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
Boyd DeLanzo
Email: delanzo@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Complexity Theory, Space Policy, Space Futures, Geotechnics, Competition, China
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Ari Eisenstat
Email: ari7@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Law and Policy, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Sustainable Development, Social Innovation, Human Rights, Outer Space, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Exponential Technologies, International Organizations, Civil Society Advocacy, Climate Justice
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Hannah El-Silimy
Email: hannahel@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Activism and Social Movements, Decolonization, Transnational and Third World Feminisms, Liberatory Education, Global Politics, Southeast Asia
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Ryan Ferguson
Email: ryanferg@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Politics of Technology, Future of Media Systems, Aesthetics
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Hildre C Herrera
Email: hherrera@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures)
Research Interests: Futures, Political Language, Nostalgia, International Politics, Media
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Hannah Hyman
Email: hhyman@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Political Theory)
Research Interests: Post-Structuralism, Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, New Religious Movements, Afro-Caribbean Religions, Resistance, Power/Hierarchy, Biopower
Advisor: Kathy Ferguson
Kamalani Johnson
Email: kj31@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Indigenous Politics, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Late 19th and Early 20th Century Kanaka Maoli Literary Resurgence; Indigenous Climatology and Horology; Hawaiian Historiography and Literature
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Kaʻiminaʻauao Kahikina (Cambern)
Email: cambernk@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Political Economies of Mana, Black and Indigenous Co-optic Futures, Hōʻailona and Kānaka Maoli Political Action/Activism, Trans-indigenous Resurgence, Hulihia, Pilina, Ea, Moʻokūʻauhau Consciousness
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Akta Kaushal
Email: akta@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (International Relations)
Research Interests: Postcolonial and Decolonial Theory
Advisor: Sankaran Krishna
Hana Kim
Email: hanakim@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, International Relations, Law and Policy, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Feminist Theory, Civil Society, Politics of Religion, Postcolonial Studies, Korean Studies, Korean America
Advisor: Kathy Ferguson
Ciera Lasconia
Email: cierak21@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Indigenous Politics, Hawaiʻi Politics, Deoccupation, MMIWG, Free Speech, Eugenics
Advisor: Jamaica Osorio
Andriy Levytskyy
Email: alevytsk@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Critical International Relations, Post-Soviet Transformations, Political Sociology, Complex Systems, Ukraine
Advisor: Nevzat Soguk
Cheng-Cheng Li
Email: ccli@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Cultural Diplomacy, Pacific Regionalism, Pacific Islands Forum, Taiwan Foreign Policy, Taiwan and Oceania
Advisor: Sarah Wiebe
Samantha Lopez
Email: salopez@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: US Imperialism, Postcolonial Studies, Philippine Foreign Policy, Land and Self-Determination, Public Policy
Advisor: Sarah Wiebe
Daniel Kauwila Mahi
Email: dmahi@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Contested Governance, Ceremony, Traditional Games, Alternative Exports, Hawaiian Kingdom Governance, Indigenous Futurisms
Advisor: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
Mathew Markman
Email: markman@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Sanctuary, Fascism, Far-Right Extremism, Counter-Radicalization, Democratic Futures, Alternative Governance Models, Urban Revolution, Quantum Social Science, Middle Eastern Studies
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Billy Meinke-Lau
Email: wmeinke@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures)
Research Interests: Futures, Intellectual Property Rights, Open Educational Resources, Education Policy, Personal Data, Surveillance
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Sukyoung Myung
Email: smyung@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Political Polarization, Democracy, Political Participation, Online Nationalism, Asian Politics, Korean Politics
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Keegan Newton
Email: keeganan@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD ()
Research Interests: Cyber Policy, Technology & Geopolitics
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Saveun Nhim
Email: snhim@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Education, Public Policy, Disabilities, Non-Profit Management, Research, Advocacy. Southeast Asia
Advisor: Katharina Heyer
Ha'åni San Nicolas
Email: haanisn@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Reproductive Justice, Indigenous and Bodily Sovereignty, Decolonization, Oceania Feminisms, Pacific Island Women’s Histories
Advisor: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
Jordan Peterson
Email: jordanp9@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics)
Research Interests: Southeast Asia, Oceania, Migration, Subnational Conflict
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Alyssa Purcell
Email: anap9@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Indigenous Politics, Indigenous Theory, Mana Wāhine, Moʻokūʻauhau, Moʻolelo
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Ken Reyes
Email: ereyes4@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Political Theology, Philippine Politics, Authoritarianism, Political Violence, Biopolitics, Circulation of Power, Form-of-Life
Advisor: Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller
Sara Saastamoinen
Email: sarasaas@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Indigenous Politics, Law and Policy, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Existential and Catastrophic Risks, Indigenous Futures, Displacement and Concepts of Home, Karjala, Indigenous Languages, Identities, Queer Theory
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Steffanie Sobitz
Email: ssobitz@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Alternative Futures, Indigenous Politics, International Relations, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Socio-Legal Theory, Indigenous Law, Alternatives Futures: (non)state building, Democratic Confederalism, Middle East (Kurdish peoples), Spain, North Africa
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Tamara Swift
Email: swiftt@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures)
Research Interests: Alternative Local Political Structures, Local and Sustainable Farming, Hawaiian Ahupua'a Land System, Women in Governance, Surviving Climate Crisis
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Susy Tekunan
Email: tekunans@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics)
Research Interests: Overseas Chinese Immigration in Southeast Asia, Chinese Diaspora, China Transnational Governance, Colonial Legacy and Racial Politics
Advisor: Petrice Flowers
Mahina Tuteur
Email: ntuteur@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Indigenous Law and Social Movements, Natural Resource Management, Land and Water, Critical Race Theory
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
McKenzie Tynanes
Email: tynanesm@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Alternative Futures, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Politics of Technology, Human Rights, Public Policy, Outer Space, Indigenous Politics, State and Development
Advisor: Lawrence Nitz
Chantrelle Melenani Waialae
Email: cwaialae@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Native Hawaiian Law, Family Law, Violence Against Women, Public Policy, Native Hawaiian Rights, Indigenous Politics, Conflict Resolution, Pu'uhonua
Advisor: Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller
Amali Wedagedara
Email: amali@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics)
Research Interests: Asian Politics, Political Economy, South Asian Politics, Gender, Development Studies, Finance
Advisor: Sankaran Krishna
Kalaniakea Wilson
Email: knwilson@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, International Relations, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Ko Hawaii Pae Aina, Aloha kekahi i kekahi, I ka wa ma mua, I ka wa ma hope, He alii ka aina, He kauwa ke kanaka, Occupation, Colonization, Genocide, Power, Race, Treaties, War Crimes, Propaganda, Lies
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Changwon Yang
Email: changwon@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Area Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Philippines, Political Violence, Democracy
Advisor: Ehito Kimura