Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada

Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada
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Alma mater	University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Occupation	Writer Artist Scholar

Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) writer, artist, and scholar who lives and works in Hawaiʻi. His work centers on Hawaiian traditional knowledge and translation.

Early life

Kuwada has moved multiple times during childhood due to his father's service in the military. He was a was born in Germany, moved to Colorado and then Hawaiʻi, then returned to Germany in 2nd grade. He returned to Hawaiʻi in 7th grade where he spent much of his life in ʻEwa, Oʻahu. His parents come from Moku o Keawe (Big Island), his mother from Kohala and his father from Kona-Kailua.

Language has been a part of Kuwada's life form an early age. Although he did not study German, he grew up in German and English speaking communities and his parents spoke English and German. In high school he studied Spanish, and in college he began learning ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language), which he has since become fluent.

Education and academic work

Kuwada graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1995. In 2004, Kuwada received two Bachelor of Arts degrees, one in Hawaiian studies and the other in Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In 2007, he completed his Master of Arts degree in English. In 2019 Kuwada earned his Doctor of Philosophy of English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, focusing on translation theory with his dissertation entitled, “Ka Mana Unuhi: An Examination of Hawaiian Translation.”

Kuwada has worked as an Associate Professor of Hawaiian studies with a specialization in Moʻolelo ʻŌiwi at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa since 2019. Kuwada is a multidisciplinary scholar working in critical analysis, editing, translation, blogging, poetry, and photography.

Kuwada's career in translation includes a collaborative apprenticeship alongside Sahoa Fukushima with lead translator Puakea Nogelmeier on the book Ka moʻolelo o Hiʻiakaikapoliopele: ka wahine i ka hikina a ka lā, ka uʻi palekoki uila o Halemaʻumaʻu. “A Legendary Story of Koʻolau, As Serialized in the Newspaper Ka Leo o Ka Lahui, July 11-20, 1893” was published with Marvels and Tales in 20016. His translated works have appeared in Awaiāulu Press, ʻŌiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal, and Marvels and Tales. During his graduate studies, Kuwada developed a theory of translation centered on collaboration.

Kuwada was an editor for the journal Hūlili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being published by Kamehamehameha Publishing , the speculative work anthology Snaring New Suns published by Bamboo Ridge, and co-edited with Kanaka Maoli poet Noʻu Revilla on the special issue, “Aloha ʻĀina Narratives of Protest, Protection, and Place” for Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly. Kuwada is a collaborative writer, producing articles with other scholars on Hawaiian sovereignty, moʻolelo, and activism. In 2018 he co-wrote “Making ʻAha: Independent Hawaiian Pasts, Presents, and Futures” with Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua. He was a co-editor with Donatella Izzo for “Sustaining Hawaiian Sovereignty,” and the chapter “Mapping Wonder in the Māui Moʻolelo on the Moʻoʻāina: Growing Aloha ʻĀina Through Indigenous and Settler Affinity Activism” in a special issue of Marvels and Tales with Aiko Yamashiro.

Kuwada has published work across multiple fields, in particular, articles on translation and life writing. A selection of academic articles and reviews include:

• “Three Mana of a Moʻolelo about Translation” (2023)

• “The Past Before Us: Mo‘okū‘auhau as Methodology ed. by Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu (review)” (2020)

• “Hawaiʻi is My Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific by Nitasha Tamar Sharma (review)” (2023)

• “Reflecting on Ea” (2015)

• “To Translate or Not to Translate: Revising the Translating of Hawaiian Language Texts” (2009)

• “Hidden Heroes: Cultural Interaction and Nationalism in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Hawaiian Biographies” (2012)

Awards and Fellowships

Kuwada has been a major contributor to Hawaiian literature, research, and community-based programs. He has earned multiple scholarships as a graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, including the Doroth M. Kahananui Scholarship in Hawaiian Language Lokomaikaʻi Snakenberg Graduate Scholarship (2006), The Samuel L. Elbert graduate Scholarship in Hawaiian and Polynesian Languages (2008), the Lokomaikaʻi Snakenberg Graduate Scholarship (2009), and the Emalani Searfoss Memorial Scholarship (2011); in addition, he was awarded the Center for Biographical Research Biography Prize for his research, "Hidden Heroes:Cultural Interaction and Nationalism in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Hawaiian Biographies."

During his Ph. D. studies, he has been awarded multiple fellowships, including the Amos and Edna Leib Fellowship in Pacific Literature in 2012, the Ford Foundation Diversity Dissertation Fellowship (2013, awarded but not accepted), and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Mellon-Hawaiʻi Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (2013), which was similarly awarded to prominent figures in the Hawaiʻi community including Noelani Arista, Kauanoe Kamanā, Kekuewa Kikiloi, Katrina-Ann R. Kapāʻanaokalāokeola Oliveira, Marie Alohalani Brown, and many others.

Publications

As a creative writer, Kuwada writes moʻolelo, science fiction, short stories, and poetry. He writes in both English and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. His poetry has been published across multiple journals. "Mispronounced Star: A Love Poem for Nine Women" is published with Yellow Medicine Review (2020), and the poem, “He mele kanikau no ke kini i kāʻili lima koko ʻia” is published in Bettering American Poetry Volume 2 (2019) and the Offing (2016). "To Ea: In Response to David Kahalemaile, August 12, 1871” (2015) is published in the American Quarterly special issue, "Pacific Currents."

His short stories are widely published. The story, “Of No Real Account” (2015) is published by Hawaiʻi Review. “All My Relations” (2021) is published online with Hawaiʻi Review of Books (2021), The Dark Magazine (2019) and in print with Foxspirit Books in the Pacific Monsters Anthology (2017). "When the Wiliwili Blossoms, the Shark Bites" (2023) is also published with The Dark Magazine. His work is also published among other prominent Kanaka Maoli writers in the Aloha ʻĀina Zine (2015). “Ke Kāhea: The Calling” (2017) is published with Black Marks on a White Page.

Outside of traditional writing genres, Kuwada has published articles on the blog Ke Kaʻupu Hehi ʻAle and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Ka Wai Ola, including his short story for Hawaiian Language Month, "Ka ʻImi Loa-He Mōhihiʻo" (2018).

Photography

Kuwada’s photography, ranging from portraiture to surf photography, has displayed in and outside of Hawaiʻi. His surf photography, regularly posted on the instagram @waterbearfoto, was published in Pacific Longboard Magazine. Kuwada’s portraiture has been part of installations for the Portland Ori Gallery and San Francisco Yerba Buena Center, as well as in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Activism

Kuwada is a part of the activist community in Hawaiʻi fighting for sovereignty and has spoken on his experiences at Mauna a Wākea. He wrote the article “We Life In The Future. Come Join Us” after his attendance with other Kānaka Maoli preventing the desecration to be caused by the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope and is quoted by other Kanaka Maoli scholars as an example of how activists subvert settler colonial structures and insist on futures that care for and are supported by Indigenous people. His job consisted of scriptwriting and producing content and media. Kanaeokana has produced materials on the mismanagement of Mauna Kea. As lead of the Kanaeokana team, Kuwada collaborated with Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures to produce to put on the first iteration of He Au Hou, a culture-based video game production program.

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