Val Kalei Kanuha facts for kids

Valli Kalei Kanuha is a Native Hawaiian and Asian American scholar, teacher, and activist. She is known for her work on social justice, especially helping Native Hawaiian and other Indigenous people, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities. She focuses on understanding and preventing violence.

Early Life and Education

Valli Kalei Kanuha grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, in the 1950s. Her mother was Nisei, which means she was a second-generation Japanese American born in the U.S. Her father was Kanaka 'Oiwi, a Native Hawaiian. Both her parents lived their whole lives in Hawaii.

Kanuha went to college at the University of Wisconsin. She earned a bachelor's degree in social work. Later, she received her master's degree in social work from the University of Minnesota. She then earned her PhD in social welfare from the University of Washington.

Scholarship and Teaching

Dr. Kanuha has worked as a trainer and consultant around the world. She teaches about fairness, fighting against unfair treatment, and stopping violence. She taught at Hunter College and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in the 1990s.

From 1997 to 2016, she was a professor at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Her research often looked at violence in relationships, including violence in relationships between women. She also studied how past events and culture can affect people. She even helped create a program to stop violence based on Native Hawaiian traditions.

In 2017, Dr. Kanuha moved to the University of Washington School of Social Work. There, she has held important roles like Assistant Dean for Field Education. She also helped lead efforts for diversity, fairness, and inclusion. She teaches classes on research methods and understanding violence.

Activism and Community Work

Dr. Kanuha was an early leader in the movement to help people experiencing violence in the 1970s. She helped start some of the first groups in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that supported survivors of violence. One of these groups opened Women's Advocates, which was one of the first shelters for people experiencing domestic violence and their children in the U.S.

She was one of the first Asian-Pacific Islander-Native Hawaiian lesbian activists to speak out against violence. Her work has focused on violence in relationships, especially for Indigenous people and women of color. She was also one of the first to write about violence in relationships between women.

Dr. Kanuha helped start Incite! Women of Color Against Violence. This group works to fight against violence from the government and between people, especially for women, gender non-conforming people, and trans people of color. For 50 years, she has worked for social justice. She supports Hawaiian, Native American, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities.

She has served on the national board of the Joyful Heart Foundation. This foundation was started by actor Mariska Hargitay. Dr. Kanuha also worked with API Chaya in Seattle, helping Asian Pacific Islander communities deal with violence. She also helped create the Women’s Center at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.

In the 1990s, Dr. Kanuha lived in New York City during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). She helped organize volunteers who supported people with AIDS. She also led educational programs about staying healthy. Her team worked with gay and bisexual Black and Latino men involved in voguing culture. She later worked at the Hetrick Martin Institute, developing programs for young people and educational workshops for schools. As one of the few Asian-Pacific Islander-Native Hawaiian activists working on HIV/AIDS in New York, she helped start the Asian Pacific Islander Center on HIV/AIDS.

Personal Life

Valli Kalei Kanuha and her partner, Kata Issari, have been together since 1994. They have a daughter.