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Learning in the Light is a collection of stories and perspectives whose authors are Asian-American women – all from Hawaii –
with varied backgrounds, who are educators in the most generic sense of the word. Their settings and channels of communication are
varied – universities, religious parliaments, metropolitan centers, global contexts, and remote islands. They exemplify women who have
East-West perspectives in communication and continue to innovate in their roles and shape new cultures from within. They reach out
beyond their familiar parameters to form partnerships in learning, letting their "light to shine".
What had begun as a volume destined for academia evolved into a book with a larger mission as the authors began to share their feelings
as well as their thoughts about their work and their lives with authenticity, humor, and grace. Most of these women came from cultures
which were prescriptive and role-oriented. A commonality they share is higher education, with its context going far beyond universities
and into temples, global institutions, and cyberspace. They also share an appreciation of the cultures that shaped them as well as their
willingness to go beyond the status quo, by crossing worldviews, transforming their consciousness, and communicating from the heart.
Wherever they are, these women continue to create vibrant cultures by loving and learning in the light.
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Dr. Elizabeth Kunimoto, PhD is a former professor in the School of Communications at the University of Hawaii at
Manoa and served as Chair of the Department of Communications from 1995-1998. Toward the end of her tenure as chair, she and her
colleagues participated in a merger with Journalism to create the School of Communications. In May 2006 she was invited to present
a keynote address at an international conference at the University of Tampere in Finland, "Cultural Empathy: A Source of
Multicultural Learning and Innovation". She has recently retired from the University of Hawaii to focus her energy toward the
promotion of multicultural communication and learning. |
