University of Hawaii Department of Art & Art History

We are located in the Art Building, Manoa Valley, Kona District, O'ahu at the University of Hawai'i. Indigenous Hawaiians recognize this place as part of a much larger area, Papahanaumoku, their maternal grandmother. The United States seized the Hawaiian Kingdom, including these lands. We stand with the Indigenous Hawai'ians who defend their land and communities. We believe in the importance of stories, visual arts, and texts. These can help us understand lives that are very different from ours. We value listening, critical thinking, self-reflection, and imagination. By developing these capabilities, we hope to promote empathy, environmental and social justice, and ethical perspectives. We seek to promote diversity among our campus and community. This includes racial minority students, women, immigrant, LGBTQ+, disabled, and people from various socioeconomic, religious, age groups, and racial backgrounds. The University also values academic freedom. Faculty members have the right to speak out, to publish, to teach, and to learn from others. Often, this has not happened in practice. We are committed to improving our department's culture and curriculum. It involves finding ways to counter the systemic biases and colonial histories that underpin many cultural practices. Some changes will take time, particularly as the university may not support certain priorities, including new faculty hires. However, others can be addressed immediately, such as our culture and history requirement. Social justice has become a prevailing theme. We want to collaborate with students, colleagues, alumni, and community members to promote these principles.