Dr. Christy Mello is an applied cultural anthropologist. She completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. Through an applied and community engaged research approach, interests include community health and wellbeing, local food production, environmental justice, social entrepreneurship, and sustainable tourism. Research is grounded in political ecology theory as well as Indigenous epistemology. Most recent research projects have been in partnership with community organizations located on O‘ahu’s Leeward Coast and community engaged ethnographic, forensic, and archaeological cemetery project on the island of Moloka‘i.
Ph.D. Anthropology
University of New Mexico, 2013
M.A. Anthropology
University of New Mexico, 2007
B.A. Anthropology
Grand Valley State University, 2005
University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu, Kapolei, HI
- Associate Professor of Applied Cultural Anthropology, Social Sciences Division, 2020-Present
- Assistant Professor of Applied Cultural Anthropology, Social Sciences Division, 2015-2020
University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, Honolulu, HI
- Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, 2021-2023
University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
- Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, 2014-2015
Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, 2012-2014
- Adjunct Professor, Anthropology Department
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 2011-2012
- Part-Time Teaching Instructor (PTTI), Anthropology Department
Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, Fall 2010
- Adjunct Professor, Anthropology Department
Muskegon Community College, Muskegon, MI, Fall 2010
- Adjunct Professor, Social Sciences Department
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE OUTSIDE OF ACADEMIA
Kamoauli, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, January 2017-present
- Co-Owner
Our Kitchen Table, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2012-2016
- Consultant
Southeast Area Farmers’ Market, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2010-October 2010
- Manager
North End Environmental Collaboration, Detroit, MI, March 2010-December 2010
- Evaluator
Fulton Street Farmers’ Market, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2009-August 2009
- Assistant
Center of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Albuquerque, NM, Summer 2005-Summer 2007
- Research Assistant
ALERT (Alcohol, Education, Research and Training) Labs, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, July 2004-July 2005
- Administrative Office and Activities Coordinator
Hope Network Behavioral Health Services, Grand Rapids, MI, January 1999-August 2002
- Case-aid and Day Programmer
- Museum Studies
- Anthropology of Tourism
- Senior Practicum and Projects
- Health, Food, and Society
- Applied Anthropology
- History and Theory in Anthropology
- Culture and Humanity
- Museum Exhibits and Visual Methods
- Medical Anthropology
- Fieldwork and Qualitative Methods
- Visual Depictions of the Human Experience and Media Power
- Anthropology of Science Fiction
PUBLICATIONS
Mello, Christy, Kirsten Vacca, John Byrd, and Robert Mann. Manuscript ready to submit. A Community Engaged Ethnographic, Forensic, and Archaeological Approach to Preserving a Cemetery.
Mello, Christy, In Progress, Growing Community Wellbeing in Hawai‘i through Social Entrepreneurship
Mello, Christy, In Progress, Engaged Research and Pedagogy in Times of Crisis: Co-Developing Online Museum Exhibits with Students
Mello, Christy, Saleh Azizi, and Shea-Lah Kama. 2020. Spatial and Relational Representations of Economic Wellbeing and the Kahumana Farm Hub: Wai‘anae, Hawai‘i. Human Organization 79(1): 57-68.
Azizi, Saleh and Christy Mello. 2020. The Role of Regional Food Hubs in Indigenous Communities: Wai‘anae Food Hub at Kahumana Organic Farms. Journal of Indigenous Social Development. 9(2): 24-59.
Mello, Christy. 2019. Editor and Contributor. ‘Imi Na‘auao: Hawaiian Knowing and Wellbeing. University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu.
Mello, Christy. 2018. Engagement as Scholarship: Food Justice in Practice. Annals of Practicing Anthropology 42(1): 39-52.
Mello, Christy. 2018. Food Insecurity in Southeast Grand Rapids, MI: How Our Kitchen Table is Building Food Justice in the Face of Profiteering and Exclusionary Practices. Chapter in Edited Volume, Food and Poverty: Food Insecurity and Food Sovereignty among America’s Poor. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Mello, Christina, Lisa Oliver-King, and Inez Adams. 2017. Growing Food, Growing Consciousness: Gardening and Social Justice in Southeast Grand Rapids. Culture, Agriculture, Food, and Environment 39(20): 143-147.
Mello, Christy. Aloha ʻĀina: Homelessness, Learning Communities, and Social Justice. 2017. Practicing Anthropology 39(4): 31-35.
Mello, Christina. 2014. Food Sovereignty and Activism: Our Kitchen Table’s Food Diversity Project in Southeast Grand Rapids, Michigan. Anthropology News 55 (9-10), 18-20.
Mello, Christina. 2004. Gender and Empowerment: Contemporary Women of Rosebud. McNair Scholar's Journal 8, 35-51.
ONLINE MUSEUM EXHIBIT WEBSITES
Honouliuli 'Āina Ho'ohuli, Co-Created with UH West O‘ahu Students, 2021
https://www.uhwestoahuonlineexhibitshonouliuli.com
WWI: The Peoples’ Persistence, Co-Created with UH West O‘ahu Students, 2020
https://www.uhwestoahuonlineexhibits.com
VIDEOS
“UH West O‘ahu and ONNO Round Dance,” Short video of Native American Round Dance at UH West Oahu March 12th 2022
“Kamoauli Community Launch,” Short video of Kamoauli’s community launch in Wai‘anae, HI, March 17th 2018
“Local Food and Gentrification: A Booming Industry,” Screening at U.S. Social Forum, Detroit, MI, June 2010
Filmed a video section that provided a behind-the-scenes view of an exhibit planned for 2009, Maxwell Museum, Albuquerque, NM, Fall 2007
“There’s No Love: Overcoming Barriers to Homelessness and Health Care,” a collaboration with Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, Albuquerque, NM, Spring 2007
RESEARCH
Over the last eight years, engaged scholarship projects, those led by community, have consisted of those involving farms on the Leeward Coast, heritage site preservation/conservation in the ahupua'a of Honouliuli, Pu'uhonua 'O Wai'anae, and St. Joseph's at Kamalo Cemetery in Moloka'i.
CONTRACTED COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RESEARCH
Co-Investigator with Hawaii Integrated Analytics (HIʻA), MAʻO Organic Farms Alumni Evaluation Project, contracted by MA‘O Organic Farms, March 2020-March 2021
FORENSIC/ARCHAEOLOGY/ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK
PI of project, recently awarded NSF funding, on Moloka‘i to identify unmarked burials with non-invasive methods, identify names associated with undocumented burials, create maps, and preserve regional history of cemetery. Partners include individuals from UH JABSOM and Department of Defense DPAA. February 2022 to Present
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS
Moloka‘i Cemetery Project, PI, National Science Foundation ($167,321), 2023-2025
Honouliuli/UH West Oahu, PI, National Park Service, ($118,427), 2023-2025
Honouliuli/UH West Oahu, PI, National Park Service, ($111,989), 2020-2023
Moloka‘i Cemetery Project, UH West Oahu BRC, ($2,000), Summer 2023
Moloka‘i Cemetery Project, UH SEED IDEAS, ($7,000), Spring 2022, Spring 2023
Moloka‘i Cemetery Project, UH West Oahu IRES, ($2,500), Spring 2022
ONNO Native American Round Dance, UH West Oahu, ($2,000), Spring 2022
ONNO Native American Round Dance, UH SEED IDEAS, ($2,000), Fall 2021
Imi Na‘auao/UH West Oahu, PI, Kamehameha Schools, ($252,273), 2017-2019
IES Seed Grant/University of Hawaii West Oahu ($2,500), 2017
Distinguished Visiting Scholar Fund (for guest), University of Hawaii West Oahu ($2,500), 2016
BRC, University of Hawaii West Oahu 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 ($8,600)
Anthropology Graduate Student Travel Allocation, University of New Mexico ($350), 2013
Ortiz Public Policy Fellowship, University of New Mexico ($10,000), 2011-2012
3% Tuition Award, University of New Mexico ($3,600), 2010-2011
RPT Award, University of New Mexico ($750), 2010
Dissertation Field Site Development Grant (Summer), University of New Mexico ($500), 2008
Ethnology Fellowship, University of New Mexico ($8,000), 2007-2008
“Local Food and Power Dynamics in Southeast Grand Rapids, Michigan.”
CONFERENCE PAPERS
“Adapting to Crisis and Reimagining Pedagogy through Visual Depictions of Changing Landscapes: Honouliuli 'Āina Ho’ohuli,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Salt Lak City, Utah, March 2022
“Growing Community Wellbeing in Wai‘anae, HI: MA‘O Organic Farms,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Norfolk, Virginia, March 2021
“‘Imi Na‘auao: A Collaborative Food Sovereignty Project,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Portland, Oregon, March 2019
“Kahumana Farm Hub: A Community Resource,” with Saleh Azizi, ‘Aha ‘Imi Na‘auao, University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu, Kapolei, Hawaii, February 2019
“From Food Insecurity to Food Sovereignty: Collaborative Applied Research and Engaged Scholarship Mapping Project,” with Monique Mironesco and Michael Wahl, University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu, Kapolei, Hawai‘i, February 2019
“ ‘Imi Na'auao: An Example of Community Engaged Scholarship,” with Camonia Gram-Tutt, Lorinda Riley, and Thomas Scheiding, Engaged Scholarship Consortium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2018
“From Food Insecurity to Food Sovereignty: Goals for a Community Driven Applied Research Approach” with Monique Mironesco and Michael Wahl, Sustainable Agriculture Education Association Conference, Kapolei, Hawaii, July 27-29 2018
“ ‘Imi Na‘auao: Kahumana Organic Farm,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2018
“Pu‘uhonua ‘O Wai‘anae: Sustainable Approaches to Community Health and Wellness for Displaced Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2017
“Aloha ʻĀina: Houselessness, Learning Communities, and Social Justice,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, British Columbia, March 2016
“Ethnography as an Evaluation Tool for Social Change: An Analysis of Local Food Organizations in Grand Rapids, Michigan,” American Anthropological Association Meeting, Washington, DC, December 2014
“Local Food and Gentrification in Southeast Grand Rapids, MI,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Albuquerque, NM, March 2014
“Growing Food, Growing Consciousness: Gardening and Social Justice in Southeast Grand Rapids,” American Anthropological Association, Chicago, IL, November 2013
“Local Food and Power Dynamics in Southeast Grand Rapids, Michigan,” Second City Anthropology Conference, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, March 2013
“Planting in Deserts: Social Justice and Gardening in Grand Rapids, Michigan,” Coauthors: Inez Adams (Panel Presenter), Lisa Oliver-King, Christina Mello, and Our Kitchen Table, American Anthropological Association, Montreal, Canada, November 2011
“Securing Healthy Food Access in Economically Distressed Urban Neighborhoods: An Alternative Approach,” Anthropology Graduate Symposium, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, February 2011
“A Sense of Place,” Presented with Our Kitchen Table, Community Food Security Coalition Conference, Des Moines, IA, October 2009
“The Marginalized Voices of Those with Epilepsy: An Anthropology of the Senses,” Anthropology Graduate Symposium, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, April 2007
“Gender and Empowerment: Contemporary Lakota Women of Rosebud,” McNair Conference, Penn State University, State College, PA, July 2004
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
“Doing Decolonization and Anti-Racism in Non-Profit Organizations”, Virtual Panelist, Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, April 2021
“Growing Community Wellbeing in Wai‘anae, HI: MA ‘O Organic Farms, Department of Anthropology’s Colloquium Series, University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, March 2021
“Kahumana Farm Hub: A Community Resource,” with Saleh Azizi (co-presenter), Hawai‘i Farmers Union United/Wai‘anae Chapter, Wai‘anae, HI, April 2019.
“Home is What You Make It: Aloha ʻĀina, Belonging and Sustainable Justice at Puʻuhonua O Waianae (POW),” with Kalani Young (co-presenter), Department of Anthropology’s Colloquium Series, University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, April 2017
“Maintaining the Commons in an Urban Setting: The Politics of Food, Racism, Neoliberalism, and Paternalism,” Yale Food Systems Symposium, Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, November 2014
“Local Food and Anthropology,” Grand Valley State University Alumni Event, Panel Discussant, Allendale, MI, October 2013
“Local Food and Structural Racism,” Anthropology Graduate Student Union’s Brown Bag Series, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, February 2012
“Activism and Food Justice,” Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, April 2010
“Our Kitchen Table’s Food Diversity Project: Food is a Right for Everyone,” Panel Discussant, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, January 2010
“Neoliberalism and Drug Addiction,” Dr. Les Field’s Anthropology 340 Critical Issues in Political Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, March 2007
Workshops:
Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop, selected attendee, Lansing, MI, October 2nd through October 5th, 2023
Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop, selected attendee, Birmingham, AL September 23rd through September 27th, 2017
Administration for Native Americans (ANA) Pre-Application Grant Writing Workshop, Honolulu, HI January 14th through January 15th, 2016
Washington Center at The Evergreen State College’s National Summer Institute on Learning Communities, July 13th through July 16th, 2015
- Society for Applied Anthropology
UNIVERSITY AND DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE
UH West Oahu Health Certificate, Co-Developer and Co-Advisor, 2022-Present
Sustainability Committee, UH West Oahu, Chair (2021- 2023), Member 2018-present
Social Science Division Leadership Council, 2022-Present
Chair of search committee for Assistant Professor of Forensic Anthropology, 2022
ECE Taskforce, 2021-present
DPC/TPRC Committees, 2020-present
Search committee for Instructor of Psychology, 2020
Certificate of Applied Forensic Anthropology Advisor, August 2019-present
Chair of search committee for Assistant Professor of Historical Archaeology, 2019-2020
Anthropology Club Advisor, October 2018-September 2019
Sustainability Council, UH System, January 2019-Present
Institute for Engaged Scholarship, University of Hawaii West Oahu, January 2018-August 2021
Faculty Senate, University of Hawaii West Oahu, August 2018-May 2021
Academic Affairs Committee, University of Hawaii West Oahu, August 2016-2018
Search committee for UHWO Outstanding Student Award for Social Sciences, April 2017-2019
Search committee for Sustainable Systems Food Systems position UHWO, Spring 2016
PIKO Learning Communities, UHWO, 2015-2017
Advisor, Anthropology Society, University of Southern Mississippi, August 2014-present
Mentor, Community Engagement Program, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, 2012
Anthropology Colloquium Series Board (student), University of New Mexico, 2011-2012
COMMUNITY SERVICE WORK
Hawai‘i Farmers Union, Waianae Chapter, Waianae, HI, July 2016-present
Board Member
Dynamic Community Solutions, Waianae, HI, December 2015-December 2017
Volunteer
East Michigan Environmental Action Council Remediation Project, Grand Rapids/Detroit, MI, January 2010-June 2010
Volunteer
Grand Rapids Institute for Informational Democracy, Grand Rapids, MI, October 2009-October 2010
Volunteer
Our Kitchen Table, Grand Rapids, MI, Summer 2008-Winter 2010
Volunteer
Greater Grand Rapids Food System Council, Grand Rapids, MI, Summer 2008-Winter 2010
Board Member/Secretary
Bloom Collective, Grand Rapids, MI, Summer 2008-Winter 2010
Volunteer
South East Area Farmers’ Market, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2009-October 2009
Volunteer
Center of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention/African Refugee Project, Albuquerque, NM, Spring 2007
Native American Community Center, Grand Rapids, MI, 2000-2005
Committee Member
Little Hoop Substance Abuse Center, Rosebud Reservation, Mission, SD, Winter/Spring 2004
Intern
Tree of Life Ministry, Rosebud Reservation, Mission, SD, Winter/Spring 2004
Intern
White Buffalo Calf Woman’s Society, Rosebud Reservation, Mission, SD, Winter/Spring 2004
Intern
Servants Center, Grand Rapids, MI, Fall 2002
Volunteer