Kaylani is a Chamorro scholar of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania (note the difference between the CNMI orthological spelling of “Chamorro”and Guam’s orthology, “CHamoru”). As a Yo’amte/suruhana/makana, she works primarily in Songsong village, Rota Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Kaylani’s research engages questions of the Chamorro spiritual ancestor and its metaphysical forms (including taotaomo’na, duendes, difuntu, and Catholic angels). Her work uses older forms of Chamorro, often referred to as “deep chamorro” and grounded specifically on Rota Island, to develop a semiotic archive of the Chamorro language.

Kaylani has presented across various research institutions including the American Anthropological Association, the University of Chicago’s Society of Linguistic Anthropologists, the University of Texas at Austin’s SALSA, and the University of Indiana at Bloomington’s Global Indigenous Studies Network.