Joann Kealiinohomoku

Joann Kealiinohomoku
Joann W. Kealiinohomoku, 1997 Photo by John Running
Born	Joann Wheeler May 20, 1930 Kansas City, Missouri
Died	December 2, 2015 Flagstaff, Arizona
Occupation	Anthropologist
Website	http://www.ccdr.org

Joann Wheeler Kealiinohomoku (also Keali'inohomoku) (1930–2015) was an American anthropologist and educator, co-founder of the dance research organization Cross-Cultural Dance Resources. She has written and/or edited numerous books and articles, including contributions on dance-related subjects to multiple encyclopedias, such as writing the entry for "Music and dance in the United States" in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Some of her best-known works are "An anthropologist looks at ballet as a form of ethnic dance" (1970) and "Theory and methods for an anthropological study of dance" (1976). An associate professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University, she was named professor emerita in 1987. In 1997, she received the first annual award for "Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research" from Congress on Research in Dance. In 2000, the CCDR collection was named by President Bill Clinton's White House Millennium Council, as something that needed to be preserved under the "Save America's Treasures" program.

She was born Joann Marie Wheeler on May 20, 1930 in Kansas City, Missouri, to George V. and Leona Lavena (Moore) Wheeler. Wheeler attended grammar school in Des Plaines, Illinois and Whitefish Bay High School in the village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. She later studied at Northwestern University, receiving a Bachelor of Specialized Studies degree in 1955, an MA in 1965, and a PhD from Indiana University in 1976, with her dissertation being "Theory and methods for an anthropological study of dance."