Ari is a senior who was born and raised in Kailua, Hawaiʻi. She is interested in scientific colonialism, political ecology, ecological knowledge production, and farming as a form of resistance.

Project: 

Ariʻs research examines how relationships to ʻāina (land, place, home) differ based on one’s positionality to settler colonialism - particularly in the context of Asian histories in Hawaiʻi. Her project focuses on Asian settler relationships to land on Oʻahu and explores what Asian settler allyship looks like in practice. It asks: How can land stewardship act as a conduit for fostering meaningful Asian settler aloha ‘āina and genuine allyship with the Kānaka Maoli community without co-opting Indigenous relations to land in ways that further perpetuate colonial systems of erasure and exploitation? Through interviews and oral histories with individuals on the island of Oʻahu who identify as Asian settlers and are practicing land stewardship in their communities, Ari hopes to highlight stories of land, culture, and family histories, in the formation of personal and genealogical relationships to place.

Advisor: Kevin Escudero