Aloha kākou! Kourtney Kawano(she/her) is a wahine ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian woman) from the village community of Nānākuli on the island of Oʻahu. She is Acting Assistant Professor at Berkeley School of Education.
A critical race resistance scholar and a graduate of Native Hawaiian culture-based schooling, Dr. Kawano embraces the proverb “ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi (all knowledge is not taught in the same school)” by weaving a variety of worldviews, conceptual framings, and qualitative methodological techniques to examine how culture, Indigeneity, and race/ethnicity shape teaching and learning across schooling contexts from preschool through community college. Her interdisciplinary scholarship and pedagogy aim to generate culturally grounded, ethical knowledge that aligns with community needs. She has published conceptual articles on multiracial Native Hawaiian identity in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples and Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education and on methodological research in Review of Educational Research
Dr. Kawano is a former high-school English teacher and academic coach for Native Hawaiian community college students. She volunteers with HONUA Scholars, a nonprofit organization that provides free college and career programming to students interested in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine). Dr. Kawano received her BA from Dartmouth College, where she double majored in religion and government and minored in education. She earned an MA and PhD in education from UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. She is also an alumna of Kamehameha Schools – Kapālama, a Native Hawaiian-serving K–12 institution in Honolulu, O‘ahu.
