Dr. Patricia Fifita

Patricia Fifita is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies with a specialization in Critical Pacific Islands Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies. She is an interdisciplinary  scholar of Tongan ancestry, with an academic and research background that spans medical, environmental, and Indigenous anthropology. She has spent the last two decades working on projects focusing on issues of Indigenous health, colonialism, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), ethnobotany, food sovereignty, health and environmental justice, and Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in Oceania. Her recent and current projects include an Indigenous (re)envisioning study of coastal and land restorative justice and establishing an Indigenous Health Hub in Anahola, Kaua‘i. She recently co-edited special issue for the Pacific Studies Journal on Food Sovereignty in Oceania. She is a doula and cultural practitioner of traditonal healing and medicine. 

Robin Fifita-Liavaʻa

 Robin Fifita is a Tongan/Pacific Islander artist, educator, and doula. Her work is guided by her ancestry, intersecting identities and commitment to care and advocacy. As an educator, she utilizes indigenous Pacific epistemologies, critical pedagogies and liberatory praxis. Robin’s undergraduate degrees are in Sociology and International Development, and she also completed an interdisciplinary graduate degree in Arts, Activism and Social Justice from Oregon State University (OSU). She currently works as an instructor at OSU and is also a certified Traditional Health Worker (THW) - birth doula in the state of Oregon. 

Tihani Mitchell

Tihani Mitchell is a fourth-year student studying Political Science with a concentration in Law, double majoring in Ethnic Studies and minoring in Indigenous Studies. Of Tahitian and Hawaiian descent, her academic and personal interests center on linguistic anthropology, Indigenous resurgence, and Indigenous land back movements. 

She has contributed to multiple research initiatives within Ethnic Studies and Indigenous Studies, including (Re)Envisioning Anahola Seascapes through the Lenfest program, ethnographic field research projects, and the NHPI SSP research program, among others. Through this work, she has engaged in community-based research that explores Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural preservation, and issues impacting Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

Robin Tomasi

Robin Tomasi is a senior at College Hill High School and is completing her senior project assisting with collaborative projects in the lab, such as co-curating the Indigenous Studies Display at the Center for Material Cultures Research (CMCR) and cataloging items for the Pasifika archive. Robin loves art, digital design, traveling, and cooking. She plans to study Biology (pre-med) and Pacific Islands Studies next year when she enters college. --