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Abstract
This article chronicles how the authors, two Indigenous activist-academics, live into their consciousness, privileges, and responsibilities by realizing their roles through genealogical reflection. In particular, they focus on their responsibilities as change agents because of their reciprocal and interdependent roles as community members, as husband–wife partners, and as parents to their two children. Through the use of critical self-reflection, photography, and mo‘olelo (a Native Hawaiian method of sharing inter-connected stories), the authors present a radically different and Indigenous approach to leadership, scholarship, and engagement that is rooted in genealogical connections to people, place, and knowledge systems. Though the authors experience tension as their Indigenous values rub up against those of the Western world of academia, their story exemplifies their resilience as the result of the love and commitment they have to their families and communities.
Keywords:
Notes
1. The authors of this piece are husband and wife and together have two children.
2. Likelike is a Hawaiian word (pronounced Lee-kay lee-kay).
3. In 1893 a small group of white businessmen performed a coup d'état and overthrew Queen Lili‘uokalani, the reigning Hawaiian monarch (Lili‘uokalani, Citation1897).
4. In 1983 less than 1% of all Hawaiians could speak Hawaiian and there were approximately 500 native speakers left. Today, 3–5% of Hawaiians can now speak Hawaiian. Therefore, there has been a increase in the last 30 years and yet there is still much work to do.
5. Hula: Hawaiian dance.
6. Her dissertation was later published as the book Kame‘eleihiwa (Citation1992).
7. An ‘ukulele is a Hawaiian musical instrument resembling a small guitar.
8. Kaiwipuni is Native Hawaiian and Bubba is Western-Band Cherokee. We will describe this in more detail later in the piece.
9. Aku: ‘Expressing direction away from the speaker’ (Pukui & Elbert, Citation1986, p. 15).
10. Mai: ‘Towards the speaker, this way’ (Pukui & Elbert, Citation1986, p. 220).
11. Lei: Garland, wreath; necklace of flowers, leaves, shells, ivory, feathers, or paper, given as a symbol of affection (Pukui & Elbert, Citation1986).
12. A lo‘i is a Hawaiian taro garden that is fed by streams. There is a lo‘i adjacent to the building where our class is held.
13. Tutu Pele is the affectionate name my family (and many others) gives to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess responsible for volcanoes, lava, and new land (Handy & Pukui, Citation1998; Kame‘eleihiwa, Citation1999).
14. Hi‘iakaikapoliopele is a Hawaiian goddess who is famed for her ability to battle large dragons and also bring someone back to life (Ho‘oulumāhiehie, Citation1905–1906).
15. My father, Dr James Anthony, is a Fiji born East Indian. He earned his PhD in History from Australia National University. My mother, Dr Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa, is a Hawaiian academic. She earned her PhD in History from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
16. My parents divorced when I was six years old and I grew up primarily with my mom.
17. Hālau hula: A hula school.
18. Hālau wa‘a: Canoe paddling school.
19. A duck blind is a place where we hide from the ducks while we hunt them.
20. For more information and photographs of this building, visit http://manoa.hawaii.edu/hshk/kamakakuokalani/
21. Examples include early childhood education and development and social entrepreneurialship. These are not our areas of expertise yet we see the value and importance of them so we partner with others who are experts to stregthen the work we do.
22. We recognize that there is knowledge that should be kept within the family and knowledge that can be shared out. We also recognize that our mentors who are not from our own families teach and share certain things only with their own families and other things with mentees such as ourselves. Therefore, when we suggest cotinuing the genealogy of mentorship and knowlege from our mentors, we mean it in the sense that is appropriate and does not defy any type of familial privacy.
23. Moloka‘i is a small island within the Hawaiian archipelago. It is still very rural and has beautiful places to return to a more traditional way of living close to the land.
24. We live in a town house with a front-yard that is 4 feet by 8 feet and a small backyard on a steep slope. Hence, there is not much space to interact with the natural environment within the vicinity of our house.
25. In Hawai‘i, especially, there is constant overdevelopment and devastation to our natural environments and resources in the name of tourism and Western science. There are many land struggles to cite. A current issue right now is the desecration of the Hawaiian sacred mountain Mauna Kea to build a 30-meter telescope.
26. The academy uses science and knowledge creation as the reason for desecration of sacred sites is necessary though we know from both experience and research that Indigenous science and knowledge creation has occurred for generations in harmony with the environment rather than by destroying it.