Kyle Kajihiro

Kyle Kajihiro is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. As a yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese in Hawaiʻi), he integrates his deep awareness of Hawaiʻi’s ethnic, racial, and colonial dynamics into his teaching and research. He resides in Mōʻiliʻili, a historically Kanaka ʻŌiwi and Japanese neighborhood undergoing urban transformation, and teaches courses on Japanese/Okinawan experiences in Hawaiʻi, Asian American history, settler-Indigenous solidarity, and critiques of U.S. militarism.

• PhD, Geography, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2020)
• MA, Geography, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2014)
• BS, Art, Lewis and Clark College (1985)

His research examines U.S. imperial formations, militarization, and Indigenous/decollonial movements in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. Key projects include analyzing the transformation of Ke Awalau o Puʻuloa into Pearl Harbor as a pivot for U.S. imperialism and studying the Kanaka ʻŌiwi movement to protect Kahoʻolawe, which catalyzed Hawaiian cultural resurgence. Future work explores intersections of U.S. wars, militarism, and Japanese/Okinawan settler ascendency in Hawaiʻi.

Kajihiro engages with community organizations such as Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice, Mālama Mākua, and Oʻahu Water Protectors, focusing on countering military impacts and supporting kīpuka aloha ʻāina (spaces of environmental care and autonomy). His teaching emphasizes creative and critical approaches to social/environmental justice.