Fa’aumu Kaimana: Routes and roots towards home

In pursuit of social justice, I believe in defying patriarchal conceptions of family that have been oppressing communities of color for too long.

As the only known member of my family to survive, I believe in unsettling—through commitment to social justice and authentic relationships—the hegemonic conceptions of family that are limited exclusively to immediate kin ties.  I strive to uplift the diversity of cultures, embodied experiences and expressions of relationships that make my Pacific Islander communities strong. I want to build relationships where shared meaning can be made from disparate struggles of inequities and oppression. I am currently wrapping up training as an inter-group dialogue facilitator for the School of Social work and continuing my advocacy work at Pacific Islander Student Commission.

I am Fa’aumu Kaimana, and I am a third-year student at the University of Washington double majoring in Honors Medical Anthropology and Sociology.

I am currently a Community Climate Lead for Pacific Islander Student Commission, as well as a peer facilitator for the School of Social Work. I am active in my Seattle Metro Pacific Islander community, as well as an ally for local Indigenous communities. I will soon be doing research to unsettle patriarchy in institutional definitions of “family,” as well as leading my own First Year Interest Group in the coming year.