Press
“Science is something that doesn’t exist in a bubble,” Kahanamoku said. “I think being able to take a broad view of the different impacts of science can help us to think about … what our process of science is, and how we make it better.”
— The Daily Bruin
“What a person considers as a scientific question worth investigating changes a lot based on their personal background and the values they hold,” says Kahanamoku. Currently, [scientific] funding structures don’t account for those differences.”
— Physics Magazine
“In ecology, for example, ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge’ can be used as a bargaining chip, a tool for individual scientists to humanize themselves by claiming that they support ‘decolonization,’ an effort that aims to dismantle colonial structures,” says Sara Kahanamoku. “Yet these projects are often highly exploitative because scientists determine which questions to ask and which priorities to pursue, rarely stopping to consider whether they should have power over communities to make these decisions in the first place. This is ‘decolonization’ in name only. It doesn’t actually give power to Indigenous people, and in attempting to humanize scientists, we are dehumanizing other people and communities in the process.”
— Faith Kearns’ Getting to the Heart of Science Communication
Systemic racism in grant funding
Science: “NSF grant decisions reflect systemic racism, study argues.”
The New York Times: “Asian researchers face disparity with key U.S. funding source.”
Physics Magazine: “Systemic racism reflected in grant allocations, researchers argue.”
The Daily Bruin: “Study reveals funding disparity between scientists based on race.”
Maunakea and the Thirty Meter Telescope
Hawaiʻi Public Radio: “Indigenous perspectives on Maunakea.”
Gizmodo: “Maunakea’s Thirty Meter Telescope is the latest front in the new fight for Indigenous sovereignty.”
Space.com: “The Thirty Meter Telescope: How a volcano in Hawai’i became a battleground for astronomy.”
Science ethics
Faith Kearns’ Getting to the Heart of Science Communication (see chapters “Science Communication from the Ground Up” and “Relating”)
At the Roots: “Sara Kahanamoku.”
*Note that only a selection of interviews are listed here.