Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 6, 1 June 1990 — Eric Flores chosen DOE scholar-teacher by NEH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Eric Flores chosen DOE scholar-teacher by NEH

Eric Kalani Flores, a Kaua'i DOE Hawaiian Studies resource teacher, was selected as Hawaii's 1990 Teacher-Scholar by the Nahonal Endowment for the Humanities. NEH is providing Flores a stipend to cover his teaching salary while he takes a year sabbatical to conduct an independent oral history study project on plaee names of Kaua'i. He plans to begin the project in September and conclude by June 1991. F!ores said he plans to interview kupuna living in different parts of Kaua'i on loeal plaee lore, family history and other traditions. He has selected between six to eight Kaua'i-born kupuna, native speakers of Hawaiian, to interview. He will also conduct archival research and study private research collections on areas of Kaua'i. On eomplehon of the interviews, he hopes to develop a publication of stories compiled, with photographs, bibliography and genealogy of kupuna, for use in school curriculum. While the few existing oral history records of Kaua'i focus mainly on personal family histories, Flores plans to concentrate on place-names and their traditions, by island district. A fluent Hawaiian speaker, Flores plans to eonduct the interviews in Hawaiian. He hopes to record the conversations on audio, and possibly

videotape as well. Flores is also a talented artist with the Hale Naua III, Society of Hawaiian Arts.

Eric Kalani Flores