University of Hawaii at Manoa Teresia Kieuea Teaiwa (12 August 1968 – 21 March 2017)[4] was an I-Kiribati and African-American scholar, poet, activist and mentor.

[7] A bibliography of her published works can be found in the posthumously released book, Sweat and Salt Water, compiled and edited by Katerina Teaiwa, April K. Henderson, and Terence Wesley-Smith [1].

[10] With a thesis committee of James Clifford, Angela Davis and Barbara Epstein, she completed a PhD in History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz on, "Militarism, Tourism and the Native: Articulations in Oceania".

Throughout this time, Teaiwa was part of intellectual communities that stemmed from the university environment, such as the Niu Waves Writers’ Collective, the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement, and the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum.

[15] The book is a compilation of her most notable essays, poems, and scholarly articles regarding her major contributions and commitment to the Pacific region and its peoples.

Teaiwa believed that Akamai helped students to understand that art and performance are part of the intellectual heritage of the Pacific.