About
Ellen-Rae Cachola, Ph.D. is the granddaughter of Ilocanos from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, who came to work on Maui's agricultural plantation fields. She speaks Spanish and basic conversational fluency in Ilocano. Ellen’s experience living within multi-ethnic communities of Kanaka Maoli, Asian and Pacific Island immigrant families developed her intersectional analysis and community organizing skills.
Ellen-Rae is trained in Political Science, Anthropology, Information Studies (specializing in Archival Studies), and Library Science. Early in her career, she co-founded Women’s Voices Women Speaks, a grassroots group facilitating dialogue between immigrant and Kanaka Maoli women on how militarism affects us in Hawaiʻi and our homelands. Ellen-Rae completed her dissertation research at UCLA on the archival organizational systems of International Women’s Network Against Militarism, women-led peace, anti-bases movements in Hawai'i, Asia, Pacific, Caribbean and internationally. With Terri Keko'olani, Ellen co-designed the Waikīkī DeTour, a place based, Indigenous and immigrant labor history of the ʻili of Kālia (Fort DeRussy) to create a historical narrative for how diverse communities, differently positioned under U.S. Settler Colonialism, can tell intersectional histories that inspire community organizing toward peace driven economies.
Currently, Ellen-Rae is the Evening Supervisor and Archives Manager at the University of Hawaii School of Law Library. She has experience managing library and archival departments, as well as training and supervising staff in all aspects of library operation and archival processing. She curated an exhibit featuring the contributions of the late Professor of Law, Jon Van Dyke, to Native Hawaiian, Human Rights, Ocean Laws and Pacific Island Constitutional Development. She also curated an exhibit on Pacific Island Judicial Histories, and conducted an oral history dialogue between Indigenous judges from the Federated States of Micronesia and American Samoa, with students from those islands studying law in Hawaiʻi. Recently, she curated an exhibit on Race, Labor & Indigeneity, which brought together Kanaka Maoli, Black, and Asian scholars and community leaders to discuss the possible intersections between Native Hawaiian Sovereignty and labor movements, especially during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Ellen-Rae was selected as a Rare Books School - Cultural Heritage Fellow for 2020-2022.
Ellen-Rae also lectures for the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, teaching Social Movements in Hawaiʻi and Introduction to Ethnic Studies. Ellen-Rae has published in various outlets such as Critical Ethnic Studies Association Journal, DeTour: A Decolonial Guidebook to Hawaiʻi, Feral Feminisms, Strategic Library Magazine, Peace Review and Foreign Policy in Focus. She researches, writes and speaks about how social movements apply their knowledge to create and stimulate peace and justice economies at local and international levels.
,Ellen-Rae also conducts research on pre-colonial history of the Ilocos and its relationship to the broader Southeast Asia region. Expanding her background experience in Hula under Kupuna Alexa Vaught, and Philippine dance with Parangal Dance Company, she has ventured into Balinese dance, to learn about the movement & musical arts of different Austronesian, Hindu-Buddhist, animist ethnic groups based in the Southeast Asian region. She performed in the Last King of Bali, which took place onFebruary 2020 in Kennedy Theater, UH Mānoa. Currently she is practicing Philippine Dances with students of Manong Wayne Mendoza. Together they study Philippine pre-colonial and postcolonial histories through Filipino folk dance and storytelling through choreography.
View my CV to see my experience in detail.
Ellen-Rae is trained in Political Science, Anthropology, Information Studies (specializing in Archival Studies), and Library Science. Early in her career, she co-founded Women’s Voices Women Speaks, a grassroots group facilitating dialogue between immigrant and Kanaka Maoli women on how militarism affects us in Hawaiʻi and our homelands. Ellen-Rae completed her dissertation research at UCLA on the archival organizational systems of International Women’s Network Against Militarism, women-led peace, anti-bases movements in Hawai'i, Asia, Pacific, Caribbean and internationally. With Terri Keko'olani, Ellen co-designed the Waikīkī DeTour, a place based, Indigenous and immigrant labor history of the ʻili of Kālia (Fort DeRussy) to create a historical narrative for how diverse communities, differently positioned under U.S. Settler Colonialism, can tell intersectional histories that inspire community organizing toward peace driven economies.
Currently, Ellen-Rae is the Evening Supervisor and Archives Manager at the University of Hawaii School of Law Library. She has experience managing library and archival departments, as well as training and supervising staff in all aspects of library operation and archival processing. She curated an exhibit featuring the contributions of the late Professor of Law, Jon Van Dyke, to Native Hawaiian, Human Rights, Ocean Laws and Pacific Island Constitutional Development. She also curated an exhibit on Pacific Island Judicial Histories, and conducted an oral history dialogue between Indigenous judges from the Federated States of Micronesia and American Samoa, with students from those islands studying law in Hawaiʻi. Recently, she curated an exhibit on Race, Labor & Indigeneity, which brought together Kanaka Maoli, Black, and Asian scholars and community leaders to discuss the possible intersections between Native Hawaiian Sovereignty and labor movements, especially during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Ellen-Rae was selected as a Rare Books School - Cultural Heritage Fellow for 2020-2022.
Ellen-Rae also lectures for the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, teaching Social Movements in Hawaiʻi and Introduction to Ethnic Studies. Ellen-Rae has published in various outlets such as Critical Ethnic Studies Association Journal, DeTour: A Decolonial Guidebook to Hawaiʻi, Feral Feminisms, Strategic Library Magazine, Peace Review and Foreign Policy in Focus. She researches, writes and speaks about how social movements apply their knowledge to create and stimulate peace and justice economies at local and international levels.
,Ellen-Rae also conducts research on pre-colonial history of the Ilocos and its relationship to the broader Southeast Asia region. Expanding her background experience in Hula under Kupuna Alexa Vaught, and Philippine dance with Parangal Dance Company, she has ventured into Balinese dance, to learn about the movement & musical arts of different Austronesian, Hindu-Buddhist, animist ethnic groups based in the Southeast Asian region. She performed in the Last King of Bali, which took place onFebruary 2020 in Kennedy Theater, UH Mānoa. Currently she is practicing Philippine Dances with students of Manong Wayne Mendoza. Together they study Philippine pre-colonial and postcolonial histories through Filipino folk dance and storytelling through choreography.
View my CV to see my experience in detail.