Alexander Mawyer

Alexander Mawyer serves as Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa since August 2021, while also editing The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs and co-directing the university's Biocultural Initiative of the Pacific. He recently joined the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) West Hawai‘i Integrated Ecosystem Assessment as an adviser.

Educational background:

• Ph.D., University of Chicago (2006)

His research investigates linguistic anthropology at the nexus of culture, nature, and history across Pacific Island communities, with extensive fieldwork in French Polynesia's Gambier/Society Islands and Micronesia's Chuuk/Mortlock regions. Core contributions include semantics of Eastern Polynesian landscape terms (forests, freshwater systems), Tahitian marine governance frameworks, and sovereignty-conservation dynamics, alongside pioneering work on Oceania's spatial cognition through Ethos journal special issues.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Hawai‘i Book Publishers Award for Excellence in Literature (2007) for coediting Varua Tupu: New Writing from French Polynesia

Mawyer's academic service integrates editorial leadership with national policy advisory roles at NOAA, demonstrating applied research impact in biocultural systems. His work receives institutional support through the Center for Pacific Islands Studies and Biocultural Initiative of the Pacific, though specific grant histories remain undocumented in source materials.

He directs the Center for Pacific Islands Studies and co-leads the Biocultural Initiative of the Pacific, driving interdisciplinary research on Pacific Islander epistemologies, environmental stewardship, and cultural preservation through collaborative academic frameworks.