Brandy Nālani McDougall

Brandy Nālani McDougall is a Kānaka Maoli author, poet, educator, literary activist, and associate professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is the Hawai'i State Poet Laureate for 2023-2025.[1]

Early life and education

McDougall was born and raised on the island of Maui in the upcountry region of Kula. She is Kānaka Maoli with ancestral lineages to Hawaiʻi, Maui, and Kauaʻi and also has ancestry from China and Scotland.[2] Having grown up around storytellers, McDougall has long since been exposed to moʻolelo, which comprises stories, genealogy, legend, myths, and history. Additionally, her father was a musician and a writer, which molded her understanding of poetry as a platform for her own telling of genealogy, culture, and memory. McDougall began reading when she was four years old as reading was important for the family.[3]

McDougall graduated in Kamehameha Schools in 1994 and later attended Whittier College where she earned a BA in English. She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon, where she also spent time teaching poetry and Ethnic Studies. In 2002, she was awarded a Fulbright grant and went to Aotearoa to interview Indigenous Pacific Creative writers and studied Indigenous Pacific literature.[2] McDougall attained a PhD in English with a specialization in Contemporary Kānaka Maoli literature in 2011 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.[4] She later received the Mellon-Hawaiʻi Postdoctoral Fellowship and Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship awards in 2013 as she worked to turn her dissertation into what would then become her monograph “Finding Meaning: Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature”.[5]

Profession

McDougall is an associate professor in the American Studies Department of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa specializing in Indigenous Studies. Her fields of study include; Indigenous literatures and critical theory, American imperialism in the Pacific, Indigenous rights, and sovereignty movements. Her ongoing research focuses on the rhetorics and aesthetics of Indigenous womenʻs activist fashion within land and water protection movements.[2]

Work

Literary criticism

McDougall is the author of the first extensive study of contemporary Hawaiian literature, Finding Meaning: Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature. Published in 2016, Finding Meaning analyses kaona, which are hidden meanings in Hawaiian poetry, and features selections of fiction, poetry, and drama by Hawaiian authors such as Haunani-Kay Trask, John Dominis Holt, and Imaikalani Kalahele. Finding Meaning won the Native American Literature Symposiumʻs Beatrice Medicine Award for Published Monograph in 2017.[6]

She co-edited Huihui: Navigating Art and Literature in the Pacific with Georganne Nordstrom and Jeffrey Carroll. Published in 2014, Huihui was the first anthology to navigate the interconnections between the rhetorics and aesthetics of the Pacific. It consists of critical essays, poetry, short fiction, speeches, photography, and personal reflections that cover a number of topics to not only intersect indigenous intellectual, political, and cultural traditions and innovations of the Pacific, but also to decolonize Oceania.[7]

McDougall is also a contributor to numerous publications including The Value of Hawaiʻi 2: Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions (2014), and Kanaka ʻŌiwi Methodologies: Moʻolelo and Metaphor (2015).[8][9]

Poetry

McDougall wrote The Salt-Wind / Ka Makani Paʻakai, a poetry collection published in 2008 that tells of her positionality as a Kanaka wahine, a Hawaiian woman, in a colonized nation through childhood stories, belonging, and connection.[10] Her second collection of poetry, 'Āina Hanau: Birth Land will be published in June 2023.[11]

She has contributed her poetry to a number of publications and productions including Effigies: An Anthology of New Indigenous Writing (2009),[12] a poetry album titled Undercurrent,[13] and UPU a theatre production featuring poetry from Pacific authors that premiered at the Auckland Arts Festival in 2020.[14]

Community service

McDougall once served as the project coordinator of events for the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, a non-profit organization based in the island of Oʻahu that works to improve the livelihoods of Kānaka Maoli.[15][16] In 2011, McDougall co-founded the Ala Press, an independent publisher that displays the work of Indigenous Pacific Islanders, with Craig Santos Perez.[2] She currently serves as one of the associate editors of American Quarterly, the official publication of the American Studies Association.[17] She is also on the board of directors for The Pacific Writers’ Connection, a non-profit organization that features the works of Indigenous leaders in the Pacific in hopes of spreading awareness to the concerns of Indigenous Peoples for their land and wellbeing.[18]

Awards and distinction

2023-2025 - Hawai'i State Poet Laureate

2017 - College of Arts and Humanities Excellence in Teaching Award[2]

2017 - Native American Literature Symposiumʻs Beatrice Medicine Award for Published Monograph[19]

2013 - Mellon-Hawaiʻi Postdoctoral Fellowship[5]

2013 - Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship[5]

2012 - Richard Braddock Award[20]

2011 - Fulbright award

2002 - James Vaughan Award for Poetry[21]

References
  1. "Brandy Nālani McDougall, 2023-2025 Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate". Hawai'i Council for the Humanities. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  2. "University of Hawai'i at Mānoa | American Studies | Brandy Nālani McDougall". Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  3. Scanlan, Emma (2018-09-03). "An Interview with Brandy Nālani McDougall". Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 54 (5): 690–694. doi:10.1080/17449855.2018.1529461. ISSN 1744-9855. S2CID 167205130.
  4. Ladiero, Josiah. "UH Alumni: Where are they Now?". Ka Leo O Hawaii. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  5. Kanaka 'Ōiwi Methodologies : Moolelo and Metaphor. Katrina-Ann R. Kapa'anaokalaokeola Nakoa Oliveira, Erin Kahunawaika'ala Wright. Honolulu. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8248-5751-6. OCLC 1041985671.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. "UBC Press | Finding Meaning - Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature, By Brandy Nalani McDougall". UBC Press. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  7. "UBC Press | Huihui - Navigating Art and Literature in the Pacific, Edited by Jeffrey Carroll, Brandy Nalani McDougall and Georganne Nordstrom". UBC Press. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  8. "UBC Press | Kanaka 'Ōiwi Methodologies - Mo'olelo and Metaphor, Edited by Katrina-Ann R. Kapā'anaokalāokeola Nākoa Oliveira and Erin Kahunawaika'ala WrightContributions by Brandi Jean Nālani Balutski, Noelani Goodyear-Ka'ōpua, Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Lipe, R. Keawe Lopes, Summer Puanani Maunakea, Brandy Nalani McDougall, Katrina-Ann R. Kapā'anaokalāokeola Nākoa Oliveira, Maya L. Kawailanaokeawaiki Saffery, Mehana Blaich Vaughan and Erin Kahunawaika'ala Wright". UBC Press. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  9. "UBC Press | The Value of Hawai'i 2 - Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions, Edited by Aiko Yamashiro and Noelani Goodyear-Ka'ōpuaContributions by Jeffrey Tangonan Acido, U'ilani Arasato, Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Makena Coffman, Donovan Kūhiō Colleps, Sean Connelly, Elise Leimomi Dela Cruz-Talbert, Noelani Goodyear-Ka'ōpua, Consuelo Agarpao Gouveia, Tina Grandinetti, Hunter Heaivilin, Prime John Hina, Sania Fa'amaile Betty P. Ickes, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Bonnie Kahape'a-Tanner, Kainani Kahaunaele, Joseph Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula, Haley Kailiehu, Hiʻilei Kawelo, Keone Kealoha, Emelihter Kihleng, James Koshiba, Derek Kurisu, Dawn Mahi, Brandy Nalani McDougall, Mailani Neal, Ryan Oishi, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Eri Oura, Faith Pascua, Mark Kawika Patterson, No'u Revilla, Hāwane Rios, Darlene Rodrigues, Cheryse Julitta Kauikeolani Sana, Dean Itsuji Saranillio, Lyz Soto, Innocenta Sound-Kikku, Cade Watanabe, Jill Yamasawa, Aiko Yamashiro, Matt N. Yamashita and Aubrey Morgan Yee". UBC Press. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  10. "On Brandy Nālani McDougall's The Salt-Wind, Ka Makani Pa'Akai by Barbara Jane Reyes". Poetry Foundation. 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  11. "'Āina hanau"". University of Arizona Press. 9 July 2022.
  12. "Orion Magazine | Effigies". Orion Magazine. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  13. "Undercurrent: amplified poetry by brandy nālani mcdougall + craig santos perez". xenofiles. 2011-12-04. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  14. "UPU". Kia Mau Festival. 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  15. "I Mua Magazine: Summer 2003". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  16. "Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Native Hawaiian Family Finance Program Evaluation Report" (PDF). Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Office of Hawaiian Affairs. September 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-02.
  17. "People | American Quarterly". www.americanquarterly.org. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  18. "Pacific Writers Connection". www.pacificwriters.org. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  19. "Awards". The Native American Literature Symposium. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  20. "CCCC Richard Braddock Award". Conference on College Composition and Communication. 2018-06-06. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  21. "NZEPC - Voyagers - Brandy Nālani McDougall - Emma, 1993". www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
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