Candace Galla

Candace Kaleimamoowahinekapu Galla was born and raised on the island of Hawaiʻi in Pāhala, Kaʻū . At home, she was immersed in Hawaiian culture and hula (Hawaiian traditional dance); taught by her Native Hawaiian and Filipino kumu hula (hula master) mother. From her Filipino father, she developed a deep connection to the ocean and was taught to appreciate, respect, and embrace the ocean. She learned ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi formally at a time when there was an ideology that “learning and/or speaking Hawaiian would not be relevant in the ‘real-world’”. At the University of Arizona, she received her B.A. in Linguistics, M.A. in Native American Linguistics, and Ph.D. in Language, Reading, & Culture. During her time as the Program Coordinator of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), her passion was reignited back into her Hawaiian culture which inspired her dissertation research on Indigenous language revitalization and technology. Upon moving back to Hawaiʻi, Candace worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi in Hilo. She now resides in Vancouver, as an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies (Faculty of Arts) and the Department of Language and Literacy Education (Faculty of Education). Her research and scholarship focus on Hawaiian language and Indigenous languages at the intersection of education, revitalization, digital technology, well-being, traditional and cultural practices, and policy and planning; and decolonizing and Indigenizing the academy to create pathways for Indigenous thinkers and scholars, and scholarship – locally, nationally, and globally.