Hoʻolauna

ʻO wau nō o Kourtney Kawano. I identify as a cis woman and use she/her pronouns. I am the only daughter of a Kanaka ʻŌiwi mother (Laureen Kuamoʻo (née Tauʻa)) from Nānākuli, Oʻahu and a Sansei father (Kyle Kawano) from Hilo, Hawaiʻi. He Kanaka ʻŌiwi Hawaiʻi au.

I am a lifelong learner who acquires wisdom and knowledge by listening to, observing, and experiencing the world around me. Thus, I view learning and development as a never-ending social process.

I am a scholar activist committed to the advancement of the Lāhui Hawaiʻi. I support Indigenous nation-building goals through P–20 education and academia, and I resist colonialism in the U.S. schooling system by foregrounding Indigenous beliefs, practices, and values in my research.

I am an educator who believes learning occurs everywhere: at dinner tables, in cars, over the phone. It is not confined to schools. I also believe there are multiple ways of knowing, teaching, and learning in existence. While my pedagogy is informed by a critical wahine ʻŌiwi worldview that reflects different identities, I acknowledge that everyone brings their own paradigms and thinking to spaces of learning.

Consequently, in my work, I affirm Indigenous epistemologies, theories, and methodologies. I utilize and produce knowledge on and for Indigenous Peoples not only to challenge deficit views about Native communities from existing literature by western scholars but also to uplift the numerous ways that Indigenous communities enact their self-determination and sovereignty.