Aloha Compadre: Transpacific Latina/o Migrations to the Hawaiian Islands

Aloha Compadre: Transpacific Latina/o Migrations to the Hawaiian Islands is a project that examines, educates and disseminates knowledge about the understudied presence of Latina/os in Hawai’i, their historical and cultural contributions, and how recent migrations have shifted and redefined the ethnic, political, labor and socio-cultural relationships in the state. This project seeks to facilitate transdiscliplinary discussions and collaborations around complex issues surrounding immigration, race, interethnic/interracial relationships, identity politics, citizenship and belonging in a Pacific context, which rearticulates the meaning of borders and borderlands in the twenty-first century. The ultimate goal of this project is to engage humanities research with educators, policymakers, community and labor organizations, and the general public by addressing these social issues, which will enable us to explore how we as a nation can learn to embrace and celebrate our cultural, racial and linguistic diversity rather than use it as a mechanism for fear and marginalization of particular racial and ethnic groups.

This project was sponsered by the Institute for Humanities Research.