Presenter Bios

Dr. Christina Higgins is Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Department of Second Language Studies. She is a sociolinguist who studies multilingualism from a discursive perspective. She strives to be a sociolinguist for the "real world" and to engage in scholarship that will also effect positive change in society. Her research examines multilingual practices and identities among people who navigate local-global affiliations and tensions, with particular attention to marginalized populations. Dr. Higgins is co-director of the Charlene Junko Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies, which works to document, describe, and advocate for better understandings of Hawaiʻi Creole (known more commonly as Pidgin) and other historically stigmatized languages. She teaches courses in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, intercultural communication, linguistic landscapes, and qualitative research methods.

Dr. Hattori currently serves as Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and is an Associate Professor of Education at Chaminade University of Honolulu. A native Chamoru of Guåhan (Guam), educator, poet, researcher, and community organizer, Dr. Hattori holds a B.Ed. and Professional Diploma in Secondary Social Studies with a concentration in Pacific Islands History, an M.Ed. in Educational Technology, and an Ed.D. in Professional Educational Practice from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her academic interests include aesthetic engagement in education, educational technology, culturally sustaining education and leadership, leadership development, and indigenous research methodologies.

Justin Davies is Curriculum Specialist at the Honolulu Museum of Art where he develops curriculum for arts-integrated programming in the schools and for school tours at the museum. Justin also designs and leads professional development for teaching artists and classroom teachers with an emphasis on visual arts integration.

James Perez Viernes is a Chamorro scholar from Guam, Mariana Islands. He joined the center in January 2018 to serve as Outreach Director, with responsibility for all aspects of local, national, and regional Pacific Islands outreach. In addition, he is responsible for organizing events and conferences, expanding the center’s digital outreach, and helping administer the National Resource Center (NRC) grant. James brings a diverse professional background to the center, including university teaching, research, community service, and administrative experience. Prior to joining the center, he served as one of several founding faculty members and the program coordinator (2016-2018) of the University of Guam’s undergraduate Chamorro Studies Program. In addition to his scholarly publications, he has produced community events, exhibits, and other projects that collect Chamorro elders’ narratives of their experiences of US militarism in Guam.