Candace Galla

Dr. Candace K. Galla

Associate Professor

Biography

Aloha kāua! He Kanaka Hawaiʻi au. ʻO Hawaiʻi kuʻu one hānau. Raised in a sugar plantation town, Pāhala in Kaʻū, I was exposed to a diversity of languages and cultures from a young age – some of which had influence on Hawaiian Creole English (also referred to as Hawaiian Pidgin). Although ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian) was not spoken in my home, I engaged in Hawaiian cultural practices – specifically hula. Through hula I began to learn ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, which is the foundation of hula and without it cannot exist. I continued to learn Hawaiian language and culture formally at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama. Upon graduation, I attended the University of Arizona on the original homelands of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui nations where I received a B.A. in Linguistics, an M.A. in Native American Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Language, Reading and Culture. While I resided in Tucson, I was the Program Coordinator of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) – the program that reignited my passion back into language renewal and inspired my research on Indigenous language revitalization and technology. I returned to Hawaiʻi and taught in Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi Hilo where I taught linguistics and Indigenous language education courses. As an Associate Professor in the department of Language and Literacy Education (Faculty of Education) and the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies (Faculty of Arts) at the University of British Columbia, I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and teach on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking Musqueam people.

Research & Scholarship

My research and scholarship have focused on 1) Hawaiian language and Indigenous languages, emphasizing education, and community-centered revitalization, digital technology, well-being, traditional and cultural practices, and policy and planning, and 2) decolonizing and Indigenizing the academy to create pathways for Indigenous thinkers and scholars, and scholarship. My work has been disseminated through publications, TedX, keynotes, invited presentations, master classes, guest lectures, workshops, school and community engagement, and various media platforms — locally, nationally, and internationally.

Select Projects:

• Building Indigenous Language Teacher Proficiency and Fluency for Hawaiian and CHamoru Language Medium Education P-20+
• (Re)Constructing Native Hawaiian Identities, Histories, and Contemporary Realities in the Pacific Northwest: Maintaining Kanaka and Local Indigenous Ancestral Relations
• Relational Lexicography: New Approaches to Community-Informed Dictionary Work
• Digital Technology Use for First Nations Language Education and Revitalization in British Columbia
• Materials Development for Indigenous Language Learning
• Indigenous Language Fluency/Proficiency Degree
• Living Our Indigenous Languages in a Multimedia Technology Enhanced World
• Living Our Indigenous Languages: Bringing Together Local, Community, and Academic Resources

Select Media

• Garcha, N. (2023, August 13). Maui wildfires a catastrophic blow to Hawaiian history. Global News.Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/video/9894342/maui-wildfires-a-catastrophic-blow-to-hawaiian-history/
• Ancheta, D. (2023, Apr 13). Merrie Monarch Festival Kahiko Night (Intermission). Hawaiʻi News Now.Retrieved from https://fb.watch/k0P5IEe4hJ/
• Suba, P. (2022, Nov 18). CHamoru Language Reclamation. Buenas, PBS Guam. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/YnSgNY7w7aY
• Garcha, N. (2021, April 13). Navigating name diversity: why getting it right matters. Global News, Canada
• Sterrit, A. (2021, March 25). Woman’s request to register business in her Indigenous language denied by B.C. government. CBC News, Canada
• Zhao, S. (2019, August 14). UBC faculty members join Mauna Kea protesters in calling for the removal of telescope project from Indigenous land. The Ubyssey, Canada
• Deerchild, R. (2018, November 30). Indigenous language: finding new ways to connect with culture. CBC Radio Unreserved, Canada
• Clarkson, B. (2018, October 13). First film in Haida Language makes waves at film festival. Global News, Canada
• Sterritt, A. (2018, October 3). B.C. should give its 34 Indigenous languages official status, advocates say. CBC News, Canada
• Amos, H. (2012, July 4). Hula Power. UBC Reports, Canada

Courses

Select Publications

Yee, N.L., Wainwright, K.L., & Galla, C.K. (2024)

It’s about damn time: decolonizing and Indigenizing possibilities in teacher education. In A-L King, K. O’Reily & P. Lewis (Eds.) Indigenizing, Decolonizing and Unsettling: Stories from the Land. Canadian Scholars Press/Women’s Press.

Galla, C.K. & Holmes, A. (2024)

Indigenous language rights, frameworks, and policies. In S. Lightfoot & S. Maddison (Eds.), Handbook of Indigenous Public Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing

Galla, C.K., Holmes, A., Schwab Cartas, J., & Rowluck, W. (2023)

Community-centred Indigenous language recovery, restoration, revitalization, and renewal. In Tierney, R.J., Rizvi, F., & Ercikan, K. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (Fourth Edition) (p. 786-796). Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07038-X

Munoz, J., Galla, C.K., Wyman, L., & Gilmore, P. (2023)

(Just) languaging with duende: (re)inventing and innovating communicative practices as resistance, healing, and thrivance in Indigenous contexts. In Tierney, R.J., Rizvi, F., & Ercikan, K. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (Fourth Edition) (p. 797-808). Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07018-4

Chew, K.A.B., Nicholas, S.E., Galla, C.K., Kawaiʻaeʻa, K., Leonard, W., & de Lima Silva, W. (2021)

Storying the braided histories and braided futures of Indigenous language reclamation work in scholarship, World’s Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC): International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship. 16(1), 334-375.

Galla, C.K. & Holmes, Amanda. (2020).

Indigenous Thinkers: Decolonizing and Transforming the Academy through Indigenous Relationality. In Cote-Meek, S. & Moeke-Pickering, T. (Eds.), Decolonizing and Indigenzing Education in Canada (pp. 51-71). Toronto: Canadian Scholars

Galla, C.K. & Wilson, W.H. (2019).

Early and emergent literacy practices as a foundation to Hawaiian language medium education. In Sherris, A. & Peyton, J.K. (Eds.), Teaching Writing to Children in Indigenous Languages: Instructional practices from global contexts (pp. 25-43). NY/London: Routledge

Galla, CK. & Goodwill, A. (2017).

Talking story with vital voices: Making knowledge with Indigenous language. Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing, 2(3), 67-75. https://journalindigenouswellbeing.com/media/2017/12/88.89.Talking-story-with-vital-voices-Making-knowledge-with-indigenous-language.pdf

Galla, C.K. (2017).

Materials development for Indigenous language revitalization: Pedagogy, praxis and possibilities, In McKinley, E. & Smith, L.T. (Eds.), Handbook of Indigenous Education (pp. 1-19). Singapore: Springer. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-10-1839-8_12-1

Wyman, L., Galla, C.K., & Jimenez-Quispe, L. (2016).

Indigenous youth language resources, educational sovereignty, and praxis: Connecting a new body of language planning research to the work of Richard Ruiz. In N. Hornberger (Ed.), Honoring Richard Ruiz and his work on language planning and bilingual education (pp. 395–429). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Galla, C.K. (2016).

Indigenous language revitalization, promotion, and education: Function of digital technology. Computer Assisted Language Learning, doi: 10.1080/09588221.2016.1166137

Galla, C.K., Galla, L., Keawe, D., Kimura, L. (2015).

Perpetuating hula: Globalization and the traditional art. Pacific Arts, 14(1–2), 129–140.

Select Presentations