Kuan Yuan-Yu

Dr. Kuan Yuan-Yu is an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). His research focuses on intercultural music exchanges among Indigenous communities in Taiwan, Ryūkyū, and Hawaiʻi, emphasizing Indigeneity, hybridity, gender, and cultural policy. He teaches courses on world music, Austronesian musical cultures, and gender in Pacific performing arts.

• PhD and MA in Ethnomusicology (UHM)
• BA from Chinese Culture University (Taiwan)

His work explores how Austronesian identities are musically expressed in Sinophone communities and examines Indigenous solidarity through cultural festivals and collaborations. He has published in Asian Music and contributed to China Sounds Across Borders.

Prior roles include postdoctoral fellowships at National Taiwan University (2023-2024) and Academia Sinica (2021-2023), and teaching at National Tsing Hua University and National Dong Hwa University (2021–2024). He also served as deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Society for Music Studies and executive editor of the Formosan Journal of Music Research.

Dr. Kuan is an erhu artist performing traditional and experimental music, collaborating with Hawaiian musicians like Keola Beamer. As a member of the Amis People's Lidaw community, he is fluent in Taiwanese and Chinese, and actively participates in Hālau Hula Ka Noʻeau under Kumu Hula Michael Pili Pang.