REPRESENTATION
M A T T E R S
English professor aspires for Pacific Islander representation in young adult literature BY LEVI FUAGA
L
aie is home to Pacific Islanders who grow up mixed within different cultures, shared Caryn Lesuma, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts & Letters and a Laie native. Many are seeking a sense of who they are, just as she did when she was younger, said Lesuma. As a part-Samoan, she added, she grew up trying to figure out who and what she represented. Growing up in Laie, Lesuma said it was the norm for Pacific Island students to only earn college admission through athletic scholarships. However, books surrounding Pacific Islander young adults demonstrate “there are many ways to be a Pacific Islander,” she said. When she was younger, there wasn’t much literature with Pacific Islander characters
4 6 KE AL A K A‘I 2022
who she could identify with, shared Lesuma. As an academic, Lesuma said one of her areas of study is Young Adult Literature of Oceania (YALO). She said YALO books explore issues relevant to Pacific Islander young adults and help to represent their journey in understanding who they are. There is value in representing the youth and providing literature for them to identify with, to help them “consolidate their identity and feel comfortable in their own skin,” said Lesuma.
A love for reading Lesuma said her mother always enjoyed reading. When she was a child, Lesuma said her mother would read books such as “The
Chronicles of Narnia” to her and her siblings before bed, and she enrolled them in Kahuku High’s summer reading program. “She sort of set an example of what a reader is … so, we all were reading all the time at home.” Ever since elementary and high school, Lesuma said she has enjoyed reading novels in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Both genres portray “the possibilities of new worlds and different ways of thinking,” she explained. She said she is optimistic about ideas of the fantastic, where there are many possibilities. Her husband, Vaughn Lesuma, said his wife shared with him her passion for reading when they first met. “I’ve never been much of a reader, and since I met her, I’ve read more books than the rest of my life combined.”
