Lani Cupchoy, Ph.D.
“I seek to ignite a new wave of creative spirit and inspire humanity to carry oneself the same way we try to navigate life – with passion, light, and joy!”
About
Welcome! As a possibilitarian and multi-ethnic native of Los Angeles, CA, I am proud to share my creative works as a public intellectual-creative seeking to interconnect different worlds rooted in a self-reflexive patchwork of cultural consciousness which has manifested in academia-teaching, film, visual art, music, photography, and modeling. An important part of my journey was …
Academic Portfolio
“My journey as a public intellectual-creative has guided me toward a few core beliefs that inform everything I do, create, and teach.”
Award-Winning Filmmaker
“Film has a timeless power — perhaps beyond that of any other medium I have ever utilized — to provide a platform for voices and stories that need to be told from our communities.”
“Listening to the whispers of my heart, I picked up my childhood pastels and paintbrushes to cope with the stress of grad school and this important step led me to an enriching journey as a creative spirit.”
Visual Artist
Recording Artist
“Music is strongly tied to energies and emotions. If I can’t communicate verbally with you … my music will.”
Photographer
“I believe that the eyes are the windows to the soul and my role is to photograph that essence.”
“I have discovered that an image is often a reflection of a team of creatives – photographers, make-up artists, hair artists, accessory-wardrobe artists – performed by the model.”
Model
Book
Order Print Copy:
Echoes of Memory: War, Testimony and Survival on Sanzao Island
Lani Cupchoy and Robert Cupchoy
Barnes & Noble Press, March 2026.
Echoes of Memory reconstructs the experiences of civilians on Sanzao Island during the Japanese occupation of China (1937–1945). Drawing on oral histories, family archives, poetry, and historical research, the book documents survivor testimony and community memory to illuminate everyday life, survival, and the transmission of memory across generations.
“Two generations of effort resulted in this very first reconstruction, in the English language, of war crimes committed by the Japanese army in Sanzao. The oral histories and photographs are precious, and the analyses of memory and trauma are truly powerful.”
“For many immigrants, refugees, and the trafficked, we are yanked out of our home place and forced to create new facades. But the women and men of Sanzao were traumatized in their very own village by a foreign military invasion. They had to rebuild their physical and social community and recreate their identity and integrity. While past trauma can never be erased, at least it must be heard – and not repeated. The Cupchoys listened with their hearts.”
“Echoes of Memory is an essential teaching text for world history and oral history methodology. It provides students with a concrete and accessible example of how nontraditional sources can be used to reconstruct histories of war, occupation, and survival from the perspective of local communities rather than state actors, making it an excellent choice for courses in world history, modern China, and global histories of empire and war.”