Sean Sugai

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Sean Sugai (he/him/his) is a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in Human Biology and Society (BS) and Anthropology (BS) with a minor in Public Health. Born and raised in Waipahu and Pearl City, Hawai’i, his research project explores how anti-Blackness in the Filipinx-American community in Hawai’i continually emerges out of the US empire through forms of global white supremacy–namely Asian settler colonialism and racial capitalism–that rely on Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) dispossession and the ecological devastation of lands and oceans. At the intersection of Pacific Island studies, Transpacific studies, and Filipinx American studies, Sean argues that the racialization of Filipinx settlers in Hawai'i places them in proximity to Blackness, in relation to US-centric and colonial articulations of Blackness, and within the settler colonial system of power and domination.
Under the Undergraduate Student Initiated Education Program and the mentorship of Dr. Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi (she/her/hers), Sean will be teaching a seminar in Spring 2023 titled “Oceanic Filipinx Studies: The Currents of Anticolonial and Abolitionist Futures in Oceania,” which is inspired by his Keck research and explores how reinvigorating intimacies between land, ocean, and people offers new ways to imagine anticolonial and abolitionist futures against empire in Oceania and beyond. In addition to this project, Sean is a researcher with UC Speaks Up under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Wagman (she/her/hers) where he works on sexual violence prevention research among sexual and gender minority populations and with the UCLA Heat Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Bharat Venkat (he/him/his) where he explores how communities in Los Angeles build resilience in the face of heat inequality, historical redlining, political disenfranchisement, and ongoing gentrification. 
Outside of research, Sean is a Point Foundation Flagship Scholar, Udall Foundation Scholar, a Coordinator for the Bruin Ambassador Program under UCLA Undergraduate Admissions, a Cub Tour Guide, a Center for Gender and Health Justice Student Ambassador at the UC Global Health Institute, an Teach For America IGNITE Fellow, and a Student Ambassador for the LGBTQ Student Advocacy Committee at the UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center.
Sean Sugai (he/him/his) is a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in Human Biology and Society (BS) and Anthropology (BS) with a minor in Public Health. Born and raised in Waipahu and Pearl City, Hawai’i, his research project explores how anti-Blackness in the Filipinx-American community in Hawai’i continually emerges out of the US empire through forms of global white supremacy–namely Asian settler colonialism and racial capitalism–that rely on Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) dispossession and the ecological devastation of lands and oceans. At the intersection of Pacific Island studies, Transpacific studies, and Filipinx American studies, Sean argues that the racialization of Filipinx settlers in Hawai’i places them in proximity to Blackness, in relation to US-centric and colonial articulations of Blackness, and within the settler colonial system of power and domination.
Under the Undergraduate Student Initiated Education Program and the mentorship of Dr. Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi (she/her/hers), Sean will be teaching a seminar in Spring 2023 titled “Oceanic Filipinx Studies: The Currents of Anticolonial and Abolitionist Futures in Oceania,” which is inspired by his Keck research and explores how reinvigorating intimacies between land, ocean, and people offers new ways to imagine anticolonial and abolitionist futures against empire in Oceania and beyond. In addition to this project, Sean is a researcher with UC Speaks Up under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Wagman (she/her/hers) where he works on sexual violence prevention research among sexual and gender minority populations and with the UCLA Heat Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Bharat Venkat (he/him/his) where he explores how communities in Los Angeles build resilience in the face of heat inequality, historical redlining, political disenfranchisement, and ongoing gentrification. 
Outside of research, Sean is a Point Foundation Flagship Scholar, Udall Foundation Scholar, a Coordinator for the Bruin Ambassador Program under UCLA Undergraduate Admissions, a Cub Tour Guide, a Center for Gender and Health Justice Student Ambassador at the UC Global Health Institute, an Teach For America IGNITE Fellow, and a Student Ambassador for the LGBTQ Student Advocacy Committee at the UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center.