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.
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.”
Last night I had an epiphany, a sudden moment of clarity brought on by the question of a haole* person I was sitting beside at a dinner. She asked, “What is the big deal about Moana, it’s just a cartoon for kids.”
I paused. (As a Hawaiian Cultural Advisor to a variety of entities, I’ve learned that any offhand remarks I make can (and often will) be taken literally. )
I thought. “”It’s just a cartoon for kids.” Aha. THAT is EXACTLY WHY it is a big deal.”
Now, I am not going to go into whether it is well done or not, who was insulted, who loved it, and all that. There are many blogs, articles, and comments available on-line and in print which are well thought out and make excellent reading for you to make up your own mind. I am only going to say a few words about WHY IT IS A BIG DEAL.
It is a big deal because kids are watching it.
If what kids see was not a big deal, advertisers would not be spending $17 billion (yes, $17,000,000,000!) annually to get keiki eye-tracks on their ads!
You see, kids/children/keiki, are rapidly absorbing everything that goes on around them. Whatever they see, hear, feel, smell, sense in any way is shaping the adults they will become. So it is critical that whatever is made for and marketed to children be true, honest, and healthful for their souls, minds, and bodies.
Movies, cartoons, and other media directed at children are far MORE important to produce to the highest possible standards than media directed to any other audience.
A child has no filters. Moana is targeted to children who are in that time of life in which they are most actively forming their perceptions of themselves and the world in which they live. What the child sees in Moana will largely inform that child’s perceptions of Polynesian people. If the child is Polynesian, this will have a direct effect on the child’s self-perception and view of his or her own history. If the child is not Polynesian, it will have a direct effect on how the child will see people who look like Polynesians.
If you let your child watch this (or any) movie, watch it with your child and use the movie as a starting point for discussion and exploration of your ʻohana‘s culture and values. It does not need to be heavy – simple questions like, “If you had been in _______’s place, what would you have done?” are a good starting point. Go to the library and borrow books about Maui and the Pacific. (And feel free to explain that it’s just a movie, Maui’s mother loved him very much. She didn’t throw him away because she didn’t love him. He looked like he was born dead, so she wrapped him in her hair and gave him to his ocean ancestors. Click here for a beautifully done video of the story!)
At the bottom of this post are links to resources, and to purchase books if you do not have a library available.
So, it is a big deal. Mahalo for asking a question that made me think!
Another question this lovely woman asked was, “Why are people so upset about a made-up character?”
The answer is, “He is not made-up.”
Maui is an ancestor figure, culture hero, and cultural archetype who defines much of how, as Polynesians, we see ourselves. Any perceived disrespect or attack is disrespect and attack which strikes at the self-perception of an entire people.
For an example of this in European culture, take a look at the stories of William Tell. Whether or not one pursues a literal interpretation of William Tell the Man, or is satisfied with the Legendary Figure of William Tell, again, he is an ancestor figure, culture hero, and cultural archetype. To disrespect or attack him is to disrespect and attack Swiss culture and self-perception.
Archetypal figures, found in all cultures, are used to teach children and adults cultural values and truths that go deeper than those found in simple dates and role-calls.
Here in the world’s largest ocean, Maui is revered throughout Polynesia. His wondrous deeds as a culture hero have been told and re-told for over a thousand years. Though there are differences between island groups, that they have remained as consistent as they have is amazing, and demonstrates how important Maui is to Polynesians throughout the Pacific.
“The Maui legends form one of the strongest links in the mythological chain of evidence which binds the scattered inhabitants of the Pacific into one nation. An incomplete list aids in making clear the fact that groups of islands hundreds and even thousands of miles apart have been peopled centuries past by the same organic race.”
IMDb is now providing community-created parental guides for movies, including Moana.
Must-haves for the grownups
Hawaʻiki Rising is free on Kindle!
Classic collections of mythologies
*I point out that she is haole (in the sense of ʻforeign to Hawaiʻiʻ) so that you know she is has an American/Euro-centric cultural background, as opposed to someone reared in the islands. If she were Japanese or of any other ethnic/cultural background, I would have pointed that out so that readers would have a cultural referent for her.
So many people have contacted me asking for reading lists on various Hawaiian subjects that I have finally started putting some on-line. The starter list is here. More will be added!
This excellent op-ed piece by ʻOhu Gon needs to be shared with many. By Sam ‘Ohu Gon September 4, 2016
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently unveiled a groundbreaking map of Central America that illustrates the critical role indigenous people play as caretakers of the region’s natural resources.
The map depicts Central America’s forest and marine ecosystems, along with the names, populations and locations of its indigenous peoples, who occupy almost 40 percent of the land and water area. And what the map clearly shows is telling: The best preserved natural resources are found where indigenous people live.
“You cannot talk about conservation without speaking of indigenous peoples and their role as the guardians of our most delicate lands and waters,” said Grethel Aguilar, a regional IUCN official. “They depend on those natural resources to survive, and the rest of society depends on their role in safeguarding those resources for the well-being of us all.”
The IUCN has made previous motions acknowledging indigenous people in conservation. But at this year’s World Conservation Congress, now underway in Honolulu, members will vote on a motion drafted by the cultural committee of the Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance that asks them to take additional steps toward integrating indigenous values, knowledge and approaches into efforts to address the world’s conservation challenges.
Why look to indigenous peoples?
Renowned philosopher Noam Chomsky says indigenous peoples have not commodified their relationship with the natural world. Their relationship is reciprocal: they care for their resources because their survival depends on it. Such a philosophy is desperately needed in Western societies today.
Prior to Western contact, Hawaiians embraced a reciprocal relationship with all elements of the natural world, regarding them as elders and physical manifestations of ancestors and gods.
Living on islands, with finite natural resources, they developed a mountains-to-sea system of resource management.
Within each ahupua‘a, or land division, there was an individual — the konohiki — trained from childhood to know the ahupuaa resources intimately, and who had the authority to set kapu — restrictions — when those resources were threatened, thereby bringing the resources back into balance.
The konohiki knew when each mountain tree was fruiting, when the birds of land or sea were nesting and when runs of fish were moving through the ahupua‘a — events that were extremely important to daily life.
Western approaches supplanted old relationships, disrupted ecological processes, commodified natural resources and essentially destroyed self-sufficiency.
Today, 85 to 90 percent of our food and other goods are imported from elsewhere, and the average citizen in Hawaii has little connection to the resources around them, much less a sense of kuleana — responsibility — for their care.
While we can’t easily return to the ancient ahupua‘a system, we can work to re-establish meaningful connections between people, places and resources that were its foundation. When people know and love their place and its resources, everyone benefits. The movement toward community-based marine management in Hawaii is all about this.
In rural areas like Haena on Kauai, Moomomi on Molokai, Kipahulu on Maui, and Kaupulehu on Hawaii island, indigenous communities, many of them lineal descendants of the land, are combining traditional Hawaiian approaches and modern science to restore their near-shore reefs and fisheries.
The idea is that if you engage the people of a place, who know the resources best, align them with the best of modern science and offer them an active and meaningful role in the conservation of those resources, good things happen.
Throughout the world, there is growing recognition that a new model of resource use and management is needed.
How do we achieve a more sustainable future for the planet?
The answer may lie in the caring, reciprocal relationship that indigenous people have with their resources and the natural world around them.
Sam ‘Ohu Gon, Ph.D., is a senior scientist and cultural adviser with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii. He also is chairman of the Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance, whose cultural committee drafted IUCN Motion 83, affirming the role of indigenous cultures in conservation globally.
