Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 October 1980 — Hawaiian Cultural Development... [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian Cultural Development...

Robert Lokomaika'iokalani Snakenberg Hawaiian Studies Educational Speciaiist, DOE President 'Ahahui 'Olelo Hawai'i The Office of Hawaiian Affairs should spend as mueh time, energy, and money on the development of an increased awareness of and knowledge about Hawaiian eulture as it does on the development of a strong eeonomie base for Hawaiians and on new educational programs to meet the needs of Hawaiians of all ages. This may sound strange coming from the man who is in charge of the Departmentof Education's Hawaiian Studies Program, but it reflects a belief that the public school system is going to play only one small part in raising the eonsciousness of the citizens of the State of Hawai'i regarding Hawaiians and Hawaiian culture. Many of our citizens are out of school and many of our citizens who are still in school attend private schools. Therefore, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs should take upon itself the task of serving as an umbrella organization over those institutions, groups, and clubs that now seek, in diverse ways, to study, perpetuate and teach various aspects of Hawaiian culture including the language, history, arts/crafts, music, hula, food preparation, pre- and post-contact lifestyles, and concepts and values. This does not mean that the T rustees or the staff of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs will become instant experts on any or all of these matters but rather than some part of the organization should be established to serve as a clearinghouse for information about what is going on in these areas, including staff talented in grantsmanship who ean advise on how to write proposals for funding of cultural projects. CULTURAL CLEARINGHOUSE For those of us who have been deeply involved in the socalled Hawaiian Renaissance (to use the French word for rebirth of interest), one of the things that we have talked about for years has been the need for one of our institutions (like the University of Hawai'i, the Bishop Museum orone of the Ali'i Trusts) or one of ourcultural organizations (like the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Hui 'Imi

Na'auao of Hawai'i, Hui Kukakuka, Hui Hanai, or some other) to serve the clearinghouse purpose whieh now the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ean and should rightly serve. Up until now, organizations and individuals have had to depend on word-of-mouth advertising, hit-or-miss ads in the newspapers or on the radio, or the run-around from agency to institution to somewhere else when looking fon a. Qualified teachers of Hawaiian culture b. Native speaker kupuna willing to work in the school system teaching Hawaiian language e. Young graduates seeking work dealing with some aspect of Hawaiian culture d. Organized classes or private tutors teaching the various aspects of Hawaiian culture This has been very frustrating, wasteful of time and effort, and has frequently been unproductive. Finally we have a ehanee to establish, through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, an agency that will have information on all of the above-stated concerns and on many other agencies of cultural eoneem as well. HAWAIIAN CULTURAL CENTERS The Office of Hawaiian Affairs will also have other opportunities to kokua in the preservation and teaching of knowledge and skills of our Hawaiian kupuna. Some of these many include selecting parcels of land that may eome under control of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to develop into Hawaiian Cultural Centers. These would not be designed for tourists but rather for live-in experiences involving Hawaiian language and culture for our Hawaiian, partHawaiian and even non-Hawaiian residents who are interested in trying to leam firsthand about Hawaiian cultural concepts and values, arts and crafts. Many Hawaiians still have strong 'ohana to kako'o them in the good and bad times but many other Hawaiians have been affected by modem urbanism and divorce and the breakdown of the 'ohana for various reasons. Some reasonably healthy and productive kupuna are forced to live in retirement homes. senior citizens" housing complexes, or nursing homes. Some basically good, but confused and hurt young part-Hawaiians are being shunted from detention

homes to Family Court to foster homes to runaway shelters because they no longer have a large, multi-generation 'ohana that they ean tum to for kokua. These, indeed, are Hawaiian affairs and they are also cultural besides being political, judicial, educational, health, and welfare affairs. Hawaiian Cultural Centers on all of the islands. if not in many of the moku (districts), may help to alleviate some of these human cultural problems by getting the generations back together again a type of 'ohana pili kamau (family composed of "added-on" relationships) and by giving to those who are desperately seeking it, a sense of Hawaiian identity and self-worth based on a Hawaiian model. HAWAIIAN CULTURAL EFFORTS IN EDUCATION With only 1 8%-20% part-Hawaiian population in the community and in the public school system, Hawaiians may not politically or realistically be able to dictate to the school system the kinds of Hawaiian cultural material, concepts, values, and courses to be taught to the multiethnic population whieh we now have in our schools. We did, however, get a strong boost in having our desire met through the passage and approval of the 1978 State Constitutional Amendment, Article X, Section 4, Hawaiian Educational Program, whieh mandated the State (through the Department of Education) to "promote the study of Hawaiian culture, history, and language" by providing for a Hawaiian education program related to these areas and using community expertise "as a suitable and essential means in furtherance of ' this program. Means to achieve a more well-grounded knowledge of Hawaiian culture in our State depend perhaps more on private (thatis, Hawaiian) initiative on the partofthe Office of Hawaiian Affairs to establish agencies to: a. Research and produce Hawaiian cultural and educational materials b. Set up pilot educational culture projects around the State e. Establish magnet schools in conjunction with the Department of Education specializing in Hawaiian culture instruction besides the regular instruction and using teachers well trained in Hawaiian culture who ean serve as role models for the students and using kupuna and other Hawaiian community resource persons. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs might also look at what the New Zealand Maori have been doing in similiar circumstances within a governmental context over the past two decades regarding the uplifting of Maori culture in their islands. Hawaiians should not depend on what has been done nor on what State and private agencies are doing now regarding cultural survival. New, bold efforts must be made if an assessment of our Hawaiian people shows that they are dissatisfied with the way Hawaiian culture is being researched, written about, taught, perpetuated, and preserved. Of course, we should ask ourselves what are we individually and collectively doing to perpetuate and pass on Hawaiian culture before we start complaining about what someone else is or is not doing. Hawaiians, through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, will have to stop pointing the finger of blame at non-Hawaiian agencies, groups, and individuals about the laek or inadequacy of Hawaiian cultural instruction going on in this State and start taking the responsibility for action now and in the future through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. This is truly a time of HO'OLA HOU (Hawaiian for Renaissance) and it is too exciting and important to let it slip through our fingers through disinterest! No laila, mai poina 'oukou e koho paloka no O.H.A. i ka la 4 o nowemapa, 1 980 i ho'ola hou ai ka lahui kanaka!

THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS ANP