Welcome to Our New Intern, Elvira!

We are thrilled to announce that Elvira Mancini, a student in UH Manoa’s Library & Information Science graduate program, will be an E Hoʻomau Intern at our library for the remainder of the Summer 2026 term. We’ve asked Elvira to complete this introductory interview so that you can get to know her. Find out more about Elvira below and if you see them around campus, be sure to say “aloha!”

Please tell us about yourself, Elvira.

My name is Elvira and I use she/they pronouns. I am of Cuengh (Zhuang) and Dai ethnic Indigenous Southeast Asian descent. I was born in Bingznanz, Gvangjsih (Pingnan, Guangxi), a one-child policy, transnational, interracial Adoptee raised in the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish dxʷdəwʔabš (Duwamish), x̌ačuʔabš (Hachooabsh), šilšulabš (Shilshoolabsh), and dxʷsəq̓ʷəbš (Suquamish) peoples—now known as Seattle, Washington—by a multicultural Ashkenazi, Irish, Southern Italian, and Syrian family. I currently live close to UH Mānoa here in Hawai‘i. I am currently entering my final semester of the UHM LIS program, focusing on Indigenous and ethnic cultural heritage special collections librarianship and oral history archives.

What inspired you to pursue a career in library and information science, and what excites you most about the field?

I began my journey to librarianship when I was very young and my mom, an elementary school teacher, would bring me into her school the week before school started at the end of the summer. I would spend the whole day reading in her school library while she got her classroom ready for the school year. By the time I was ten I had decided to become a librarian.

As I got older and began navigating the world as an Indigenous Zhuang Chinese-American Adoptee, I began to realize how difficult it was for people like me to find books about our culture, history, and ancestors. I am currently the most excited to be working in a field that is actively working to support communities in positions like mine in caring for and accessing their cultural heritage and knowledge.

What drew you to the Summer E Hoʻomau Internship, and what interested you most about working with the Kamae Archive?

I was drawn to the E Hoʻomau Internship by the archive team’s clear commitment to collaborating with Myrna Kamae and supporting her in her mission to care for the legacy of herself and her husband, Eddie Kamae, as honored kupuna in the Hawaiian cultural renaissance. I greatly respect the relationship that the archive seeks to cultivate with the people and knowledge that they work with.

Before applying, what (if anything) did you know about Eddie and Myrna Kamae?

Before I applied, I was mostly aware of Eddie Kamae as a musician and member of the Sons of Hawai‘i. I had heard his rendition of the song Hi‘ilawe, on repeat, and knew that he had played an important role in Hawaiian language revitalization through music.

How do you hope this experience will influence your academic, creative, or professional goals?

I hope that working with this archive will help me grow into a librarian and archivist who cares for both people and their knowledge. 

Can you share a favorite book, film, or other work that has influenced you personally or professionally?

I recently resonated with the book Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. I felt deeply inspired connected with the ideas of art and storytelling connecting a separated mother and child through resilience and resistance to intellectual and cultural suppression.