Public & Human Services: Assistant Professor
Public & Human Services
Ty Tengan: Assistant Professor
By Amanda Young
Ty Tengan always felt a little bit like an outsider growing up on Maui. He was born in Germany, and his family moved to the United States—Colorado, Georgia, Hawai‘i—before settling down on Maui when he was 8 years old. The situation was further complicated by Ty being part Hawaiian, Okinawan, Portuguese and German. He, and others, often questioned his identity.
During his senior year at Kamehameha Schools in 1992, Ty attended a celebration in Raiatea, Tahiti, which gathered numerous voyaging canoes and Polynesian dignitaries. Meeting people from similar, yet different, societies intrigued him. It made him ask questions about other people’s identities, and how their backgrounds tied into his own. “I felt a connection I never knew. Profoundly life transforming,” Ty says. The experience made him look into cultural anthropology as a career. “I wanted to explore issues of identity … I was especially interested in figuring out what it meant to be Hawaiian.”
COLLEGE LIFE
After graduating from high school, the small-town Maui boy hopped on a plane to Hanover, New Hampshire, to attend Dartmouth College, where he immersed himself into yet another culture. In cold New England, nearly 66 percent of the population was from white, prominent families. Feelings of being an outsider started to rekindle.
On the Dartmouth campus Ty was in the minority— especially as a Hawaiian. On his rugby football team, for instance, he was often times the only person of color on the field. Despite the racial differences, he didn’t experience any direct discrimination from his teammates. However, a teammate made a racial joke once. Afterwards, Ty remembers him commenting, “It’s a good thing we’re all white.” Ty recalls, “Sometimes when my friends would say these things, they’d forget that I was there. It took some getting used to.”
As part of his curriculum, Ty enrolled in the school’s Native American Studies program. He learned that Native Americans and Native Hawaiians share many of the same historical woes, such as the effects of American colonialism. To learn more, he joined the Native Americans of Dartmouth, a student organization on campus. “It was a very important group to me, even though I was among the few from Hawai‘i.”
His experiences influenced him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American studies. Ty later went on to earn a master’s degree and doctorate in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i, continuing his studies on indigenous cultures of Hawai‘i and the Pacific.
ON THE JOB
Now, as an assistant professor of ethnic studies and anthropology, he describes his work as “more than just the books.” Ty is a student advisor and guest lecturer. His material comes largely from his own field experience.
Ty travels around Hawai‘i to conduct ethnographies, which is the study of culture first–hand—immersing yourself into a society and conducting interviews. His first study was with Hale Mua, a Hawaiian men’s group on Maui. He learned about the group’s warrior arts, community affairs and participated in its political rallies.
His research is compiled in his book titled Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawai‘i. It explains how Native Hawaiian men rebuilt their culture and overcame issues of gender identity. Ty has also published journal articles in The Contemporary Pacific, Anthropological Forum and Cultural Values.
When Ty is not lecturing or researching, he organizes heiau (place of worship) clean-ups or assists Native Hawaiian organizations with lawsuits. Recently, Ty spoke on behalf of Hui o Na Wai ‘Eha (Society of The Four Great Waters), an organization that is trying to stop the state’s wasteful water diversions on Maui and to restore the four streams: Waihe’e, Waiehu, ‘Iao and Waikapu. “It’s my service to them by sharing my knowledge and expertise.”
A TRUE INSPIRATION
For most of Ty’s life, he looked to his grandmother for guidance. “My kupuna (grandmother) went through a lot, and I appreciate it more now that I’m an adult,” Ty says.
As a young Native Hawaiian woman in the 1920s, Ty’s grandmother was prohibited from speaking Hawaiian. Ty witnessed his grandmother’s struggle when he learned how to speak Hawaiian in high school and wanted to practice it with her. “My grandmother hadn’t spoke Hawaiian since she was young. It was frustrating to her that I knew more than her.”
Before he had set off on his journey to Dartmouth College, his grandmother gave him a special gift—a book titled The Polynesian Family System in Ka‘u Hawai‘i. The book is an insightful study of the Hawaiian family, and it explores the traditional values, rearing, kinship and customs of all circles of life. Inside the book, Ty’s kupuna wrote a note that read, “Ty, please save this book for our family.” The book, which now rests on his office bookshelf, serves as a daily reminder of his grandmother, his upbringing and what is pono (correct).
“When I went off to college I didn’t know I was going to be an anthropologist to fulfill my kuleana (responsibility). But my kupuna must’ve seen this skill in me and knew that it’s what I was meant to do,” Ty says.
NECESSARY SKILLS
When considering a career in public and health resources, Ty says students must be intellectually curious and open-minded. And if one wants to venture into ethnic studies and cultural anthropology specifically, you need “passion beyond curiosity—you need it to get through all of the reading and studying.” However, he admits, that his best lessons—humility and people skills—weren’t learned through books, but rather by “doing it.”
“You must always be respectful, be willing to collaborate and give back to the communities you work with,” Ty says. “Otherwise they might want to kick you out when they see you taking down notes.”
In general, he advises all students to “stick to the task at hand, leave some things up to serendipity and take opportunities when they’re presented.”