Dr. Jesi Lujan Bennett is of Chamoru descent with familial ties to Dededo and Barrigada, Guåhan (Guam). She is a faculty member in Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato. Bennett studied at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and earned a PhD in American Studies and Museum Studies. Her areas of interest include Chamoru visual culture with a particular focus in the relationship between colonialism, militarization, migration, and self-representation within the Mariana Islands and the Chamoru diaspora. Bennett’s research examines the outmigration of Chamorus and the way in which these diasporic communities articulate their indigeneity in new geographic and cultural contexts in light of significant political and social change in Micronesia.
Bennett is also a 2022 University of Waikato Strategic Research Fund Grant recipient creating a digital resource and an online exhibition addressing the repercussions of U.S. militarization of the Mariana Islands and subsequent growth of Chamoru diasporic communities.
PROFILE
Position: Assistant Professor
Organization: University of Waikato
Contact: jesi.bennett@waikato.ac.nz
Website: https://waikato.academia.edu/JesiBennett
AREAS OF FOCUS
- Culture
- History
- Indigenous Values
- Military Service
Other Areas
- Pacific Studies
- Chamorro Studies
- American Colonialism and Militarization
- Indigenous Studies
- Diaspora and Migration
- Museum Studies
- Material Culture
LANGUAGE
- Chamorro
- English