Aloha Kakou!
My name is Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada and I am a second year graduate student at UCLA working on my thesis for my Master of Library & Information Science. As a part-Native Hawaiian who has spent her whole life on the mainland, I am writing my thesis on Native Hawaiian Cultural Heritage information in Southern California, my home and the home of many Hawaiians who have come to the mainland over the years. I have experienced first hand the tranference of our culture and heritage across the Pacific Ocean and have seen it being kept alive by those who left home. As a member of Kaulana Ka Hale Kula ‘O Na Pua ‘O Ka ‘Aina, I am trying to learn more about where I came from and where we are going under the direction of Kumu Randy Chang. As a graduate student at UCLA, I am trying to create more awareness to Native Hawaiian issues and dispell the stereotypes, commodification, and exotic mystery surrounding Hawaiians. As a soon-to-be librarian, I hope to help the Native Hawaiian community to work within the globalizing world.
This blog will be dedicated to organizing and sharing my findings of Native Hawaiian culture in Southern California and will hopefully remain up-to-date with events, classes, and performances. My thesis is focusing primarily on Carson, Gardena, and Torrance, but as those of us living in Southern California know, so much spills over into other cities and we are constantly travelling to keep the culture alive, so this website will also feature things I find that may not necessarily fit into the limitations of my case study.
So, Pupukahi i holomua (Unite to move forward).
Imua!
