IHREN Series: Julia Pérez (Wonon) and Pua Case (Mauna Kea Education and Awareness)
- incouk
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
We are very excited to welcome announce our next two Incomindios Human Rights Education Network virtual talks on February 26th at 7PM GMT and March 19th at 7PM GMT. Please find information more about our speakers and Zoom links for both talks below. We look forward to seeing you there!
Thursday 26th February at 7pm GMT: Julia Pérez
Julia Alejandra Pérez Santisteban is an Indigenous Maya K’iche woman from Guatemala and the founder of the Wonon Project, a social development and sustainability initiative rooted in STEM education that advances human health, nutrition, environmental solutions, and community empowerment in Indigenous communities.
Wonon emerged from Julia’s lived experience and community-based work in the Guatemalan highlands, responding to structural barriers to science education and access to health-related resources. Through Wonon, Julia strives to make science accessible and culturally grounded, creating opportunities for Indigenous girls and families by integrating traditional knowledge with modern STEM practices.
She is an MRes Bioengineering researcher at Imperial College London, exploring fermented alternative protein systems and biofortification to tackle food security challenges. Julia bridges scientific research with social action, developing sustainable, locally driven solutions for nutritionally vulnerable populations.
Zoom link to follow soon!
Thursday 18th March at 7pm GMT: Pua Case
Pua Case was born and raised on the Island of Hawai’i and is a Kumu Hula and teacher of the life ways, culture and traditions of the kanaka maoli or native peoples of Hawai’i. Pua serves on various educational and cultural boards in Hawaiʻi. She has been a part of the Mauna Kea Movement over the past fourteen years and has been involved in both community and frontline actions to safeguard the mountain and unify peoples of all nations in a collective mission to network, plan, and support one another. Pua focuses on incorporating cultural and traditional values and life ways into all efforts and actions for social and environmental justice and positive change.
Pua received multiple awards and has been recognized for leading with courage and clarity, inspiring thousands through ceremony, storytelling, nonviolent resistance and for her leadership in the movement to protect Mauna Kea which had rippled far beyond Hawaiʻi, building bridges between Indigenous communities and allies around the world.
Pua serves on various educational and cultural boards and is the Lead Coordinator of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness (MKEA). MKEA was created in April, 2015 by concerned and committed community members in Waimea, predominantly Native Hawaiian and all women who recognized the immediate and urgent need for all communities to have a deeper knowledge of Mauna a Wākea, also known as Mauna Kea. The organization began in response to the proposed building of an eighteen story Thirty Meter Telescope on the upper slopes of a mountain the native Hawaiians view as sacred, as the water source for the island and landscape utilized by practitioners to maintain and sustain the life ways of their ancestors.
Zoom link to follow soon!
Thank you to our funders, the British Association for American Studies, for making this series possible.
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