Category: biocultural

Kaula and Kaʻ ā – the ties that bind

by Leilehua Yuen

Making kaʻ ā (thread) and kaula (rope) is an important cultural art that gets little recognition these days. In times past, the art of the kaula was functional, metaphorical, and bound together many aspects of Hawaiian culture.

Myra English, Sonny Chillngworth and Billy Hew Len – Mele title/s are .”Kaula ʻ Ili” also known as “Puʻ uhluhulu” or “Kanaka Leo Nui” mahalo to Maria Hickling for the mele title/s and history – from Kokua Films Hawaii.

I originally learned to make kaula from dry lāʻ i, dry leaves of Cordyline fruticosa. It was a handy way to make a temporary rope from an easily-available material. In my childhood, tī was found growing in almost every garden, and the long leaves fell daily and needed to be cleaned up, so they were always handy to make rope from when needed.

Years later, I was working at Puʻ uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park as a cultural demonstrator. Rose Fujimori took me in hand and taught me about traditional Hawaiian cordage.

There are many materials which can be used for making kaula and kaʻ ā. Among them are: lāʻ ī, olonā (touchardia latifolia), niu (Cocos nucifera), ule hala (Pandanus tectorius), ʻ ahuʻ awa (native Hawaiian Carex and Cyperaecea), and hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus). Each type of material has its own strengths and weaknesses.

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This hau tree extends over a roadway. Recycled power cordage is used as a tie-off to prevent it falling into the road when it is cut.
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The cut branches of the hau tree are dragged into the yard.
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Student Charis with a branch of hau which will be stripped for its bast, which will be used in lei making and other traditional arts and crafts.
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A pile of stripped bark ready to separate by fineness.
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Coarse outer bark and fine inner bark.
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Kaʻ ā – thread – made from the hau bast.
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A coarse kaula – rope – made from the rough outer bark of hau. Strong and functional, but even better kaula can be made from hanks of the bast.

Historical Ecology and Ecological Restoration

A while back I signed up for the academia.edu mailing list. They have a lot of really interesting stuff come through. I have not had a lot of time to read much, but I thought I would start sharing the ones I find particularly striking here.

I Ka Wā Ma Mua: The Value of a Historical Ecology Approach to Ecological Restoration in Hawai‘i is a paper by Natalie Kurashima, Jason Jeremiah, and Tamara Ticktin which discusses  biocultural restoration as a method to reciprocally restore ecological and cultural integrity.

We have recently been seeing the results of ignoring indigenous knowledge in land management practices, and at least California and Australia are starting to explore incorporating indigenous knowledge back in management for fire.

To be truly sustainable, however, we need to move past this (literally) put-out-the-brushfires approach, and incorporate wholistic and sustainable practices. Thus biocultural restoration.

For Hawaiʻ i, this means that “since Kānaka Maoli are an inseparable part of every land and seascape in Hawai‘i, any ecological restoration project has the potential to use a biocultural restoration approach,” according to the paper abstract. “However, most restoration approaches are purely ecological, and for many conservation practitioners a sociocultural understanding of the landscape can seem inaccessible. In this article, we discuss the value of a historical ecology approach (understanding the interaction between people and landscapes over time) for successful restoration and management of biocultural landscapes in Hawai‘i.”

It’s a good read with a lot of important things to consider.