Working to Address Educational Injustice and Possibilities for Chuukese and Marshallese Students in Hawaiʻi

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Transnational and Raciolinguistic Perspectives for Advocacy and Empowerment (Table 39)

Abstract

The Compact of Free Association (COFA) marked a major milestone with US and Federated States of Micronesia relations due to the legacy of nuclear testing and colonization. Chuukese and Marshallese have immigrated to Hawaiʻi for health care and educational opportunities under COFA. As new immigrant groups to Hawaiʻi, Chuukese and Marshallese students and families have encountered racism and educational injustice in schools contributing to disenfranchisement and significant barriers to learning. The topic of this paper addresses understudied and essential perspectives for teachers to work with this underserved population. This paper shares experts’ cultural and linguistic perspectives on essential background information for teachers of Chuukese and Marshallese students.

Authors

• E. Brook Chapman de Sousa, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

• K. ʻAlohilani HN Okamura, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

• Eric Ono, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa