Manulani Aluli Meyer
Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer is the fifth daughter of Emma Aluli and Harry Meyer who grew up on the sands of Mokapu, Kailua, and Hilo Palikū of Hawaiʻi. The Aluli ohana (family) is a large and diverse group of scholar-activists dedicated to Hawaiian education, justice, land reclamation, health/healing, cultural revitalization, arts education, transformational economics, food sovereignty, prison reform, Hawaiian philosophy and most of all, music. Her background is in Indigenous epistemology and its role in world-wide awakening as she is committed to the process aloha-pono will play in this evolution. Manu has also been a wilderness instructor, athlete/coach, and experiential educator. Professor Aluli Meyer obtained her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Harvard (Ed.D. 1998) exploring Hawaiian epistemology, and has been an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Manulani spent five years in Aotearoa/New Zealand as the lead designer/teacher for He Waka Hiringa, an innovative Masters in Applied Indigenous Knowledge at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Aunty Manu is currently the Konohiki for Kūlana o Kapolei at UH West Oʻahu. She is dedicated to “Niu Now” - a cultural agroforestry movement helping plant uluniu – coconut groves – throughout Hawaiʻi. Her two books – Hoʻoulu: Our Time of Becoming (2001); and Hoʻopono: Mutual Emergence (2024) can be found at Native Books Hawaiʻi.