Oregon State University professor was a cultural consultant on Disney’s 'Moana 2'

Disney’s long-awaited sequel to its smash hit, “Moana,” is already one of the top-grossing movies of the year after its premiere at the box office just two weeks ago. Moana, however, is not your typical Disney princess. In fact, she forcefully pushes back on that characterization during an exchange with Maui, the Polynesian demigod, with whom she teams up on journeys of adventure and self-discovery.

For “Moana 2,” Disney once again sought guidance from the Oceanic Cultural Trust, a team of scholars, artists and other experts who hail from Hawai’i, Samoa, Tonga and other Pacific Islander communities. They helped ensure the films’ faithful representations of Pacific Islander cultural details and traditions such as wayfinding, an ancient form of ocean navigation still practiced today. Patricia Fifita, an assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Oregon State University and Indigenous Pacific Islander of Tongan heritage, joins us to share her experience as a cultural consultant on  “Moana 2,” and her efforts to develop a K-12 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander studies curriculum for use in Oregon schools.