Kūhiō Fellows

Mālie Nē

Office of Senator Brian Schatz (HI)
Home State: Ewa Beach, Hawaiʻi
School: University of California, Davis
Degree: Political Science & Native American Studies (BA ‘26)
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Mālie Nē is from ʻEwa Beach, Hawaiʻi, and is a Kamehameha Schools Kapālama alumna. She is a recent graduate of the University of California, Davis, where she studied Native American Studies and Political Science, with a depth in Political Theory. While at Davis, she worked at the UCD Student Farm as a farmer, supplying the university’s retention centers with organic produce to help bridge food accessibility gaps. Alongside her work on the farm, she served as a Chairperson in the ASUCD Senate, where she brought the voices of underrepresented students to the forefront of university politics.

During her senior year, she brought together her lived and learned experiences through an Honors Thesis that examined how being an Aloha ʻĀina—someone so pili paʻa with ʻāina that it hurts to neglect that pilina and kuleana, as it pulls them flush—undergirds the Native Hawaiian ability to refuse rather than resist. Her thesis explored questions of autonomy, sovereignty within another state, and navigating a neocolonial Hawaiʻi. It was inspired by her interest in combining academic theory with the practices and experiences of her community.

She is deeply appreciative to be part of the second cohort of Kūhiō Fellows and grateful for the opportunity to further her passions. Her focus on the natural environment and Indigeneity is at the core of her advocacy, and she looks forward to continuing this work while in Washington, D.C. In the future, Mālie plans to pursue law school, where she hopes to learn how law can serve as a source of healing and protection for Native Hawaiians and the natural environment. Further in her future, she hopes to pursue legal academia and influence the study of law and government by incorporating Native Hawaiian frameworks of governance.