Lola Quan Bautista

DPIS Chair and Associate Professor
[On sabbatical during the 2022 calendar year]
PhD University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2001)

Moore Hall 208
lolab@hawaii.edu
(808) 956-2652

Lola is an associate professor for Pacific Islands Studies, and has served as the chair of the Department of Pacific Islands Studies since August 2021. Lola was born and raised on the island of Guam. For over twenty-five years, she has been doing research on Micronesian migration, settlement in urban spaces, and ongoing connections between diasporic communities and their home island nations. More recently, Lola has become increasingly interested in directing and producing films that promote understanding and social justice. In her latest film, a docu-series called Crossing Spaces, she explores the role that higher education plays in transforming the lives of three women from Micronesia. In addition to filmmaking, along with a team of teachers, Lola has developed a website that provides lesson plans and resources for educators, as well as resources to accompany her films.

Teaching areas and interests

Interdisciplinary approaches to Pacific Islands studies
Talanoa approaches to research
Culturally responsive teaching
Service-learning
Research areas and interests
Micronesian diaspora
Gendered space, households, and house forms
Housing and community development
Pacific Islanders in higher education
Social justice and advocacy through film
Educational curriculum development

Selected works

2018 Director/producer. Crossing Spaces: Chuuk FSM to Hawaiʻi, Pohnpei FSM to Hawaiʻi, Marshall Islands to Hawaiʻi. DVD. 20 min. Honolulu: Breadfruit Educational Productions.
2018 Breadfruit Educational Resources website
2017 Director/producer. Vāfealoaʻi: Our Pasefika Pathway to Youth Success in Higher Education (featuring Aumua Mataitusi Simanu). DVD. 18 min. Honolulu: Breadfruit Educational Productions.
2017 Thoughts on Island Soldier. In Film for Thought 2017: The Common Good; Humanities in the Public Square, 8-9. Film festival guide, November. Honolulu: Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities and Hawaii International Film Festival. Download PDF
2015 Emic Understandings of Mobility: Perspectives from Satowan Atoll, Chuuk. In Oceanian Journeys and Sojourns, edited by Judith A. Bennett, 93-125. Dunedin: Otago University Press.
2014 Make Migration Matter. Keynote address, 6th Annual Samoa Ala Mai Conference, Leeward Community College, Pearl City, Hawaii, 8 November.
2013 Director/producer. Breadfruit & Open Spaces. DVD. 30 min. Honolulu: Breadfruit Educational Productions.
2011 Building Sense out of Households: Migrants from Chuuk (Re)create Local Settlement in Guam. City & Society 23 (1):66-90.
2010 Steadfast Movement around Micronesia: Satowan Enlargements beyond Migration. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Recent and current projects

Presenter, “Voices: Pālolo Elementary Students and Their Love of Dance,” Pālolo Ōhana Learning Center, 13 March 2017.
Presenter, “Newer Waves of Pacific Islanders,” Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaiʻi, 18 March 2016.
Co-organizer & facilitator (with Dr. Mary Hattori), “Culturally Responsive Teaching within a Micronesian Context,” Guam Community College, Guam, 23-24 July 2015.
Organizer & facilitator, Chuuk Teacher Development, Caroline College and Pastoral Institute, Weno, Chuuk, 15 June 2015.
Presenter, “UH Tuition Rate for Pacific Islander Students,” Board of Regents Committee on Student Affairs, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 3 April 2014.