The University of Hawaii Center for Pacific Island s Studies has congratulated John Falaiko Patu known to many as Niko who has been selected as a recipient of the Norman Meller Research Award for the 2019-2020 academic year!
Niko’s recent MA thesis, “Sāmoana as Atunu‘u: The Samoan Nation Beyond the Mālō and the State-Centric Nationalism,” was nominated for the Meller award which recognizes the best MA research paper produced at the University of Hawaiʻi in the social sciences or humanities and focused on the Pacific Islands.
Born in American Samoa, Niko later moved to Hawai‘i with his family as a child. He took Samoan language and culture and Pacific Islands studies courses during his undergraduate years at UH Mānoa and entered the MA program in Pacific Islands Studies.
He successfully completed the MA in spring 2020. During his time as a graduate student, he was named a recipient of the Na Nei Tou I Loloma award which enabled him to travel to Sāmoa to interview Samoan leaders and community members, to observe the fiftieth-anniversary independence celebrations, and to attend the fifth annual Samoan Tatau Festival.
In addition to his award-winning MA thesis, Niko’s research has also gained attention at numerous conferences in the Pacific, the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere.
While advancing his research activity, Niko has also taught Samoan language and Pacific Islands Studies in the UH system, as well as social studies at the middle and high school levels in the Hawai‘i public school system.
Niko is the son of the late John Patu of Pago Pago and Telesia Atonio Patu of Nu’uuli and Manono.
