Micah Mizukami

Since 1976, the Center for Oral History has documented Hawai'i’s working-class, Native Hawaiian, and multi-ethnic communities, centering voices often absent from formal archives. Its next phase highlights the contributions of women of color on Maui through a Mukurtu-based digital platform guided by Indigenous data sovereignty. Using recordings, transcripts, and culturally informed metadata, the project will ethically expand access to underrepresented stories. Digital tools, training modules, a mini-documentary, and podcasts will build community capacity and create a justice-driven, community-rooted repository for Hawai'i and the Pacific.

Excerpts from 39 life histories in the UH-Manoa (UHM) Center for Oral History archive will be broadcast in weekly five-minute messages of individual & collective persistence & resilience on Hawai’i Public Radio’s “The Conversation," to all Hawaiian Islands from August 2022 through May 2023. Each program will have a 2-minute ignite statement by a Humanities scholar & a 3-minute life history excerpt that are designed to inspire hope & lay a foundation for a resilient and engaged community. Themes explored include social justice; Native Hawaiian rights & culture; compassionate & visionary leadership; surviving internment & racism during World War II; overcoming Black prejudice in Hawai’i; surviving pandemics & natural disasters & preparing for climate change. The Hawaiʻi partners for this project include the UHM Department of Ethnic Studies  and Hawaiʻi Public Radio, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo Limu Hui and Jack Hall Hawaiʻi Housing Corporation and the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana.