Read this article in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
In 2018, Walaka, a category 5 hurricane, nearly devastated an island in Lalo in Papahānaumokuākea, causing major habitat loss for monk seals and sea turtles.
A few months later, I read an article from a popular travel magazine that touted Oregon State as the “10th Hawaiian Island” after Las Vegas as the “9th.”
Although Lalo is fragile, it is resilient in its recovery. Yet, Walaka was a reminder that our islands are not only eroded from natural phenomena, but also by dangerous (re)naming practices that have negative implications on our language, culture, and sense of place.
From Kaiaikawaha’s documents (a student at Lahainaluna in 1835), the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee’s investigations, and Dr. Kekuewa Kikiloi’s research, there have been many endeavors to record and recall our ancestral connection to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands through their Hawaiian names.
Today, there exist several names for the islands and atolls in Papahānaumokuākea and these are used interchangeably just as the many names of Hawaiʻi, Maui, Oʻahu, and Kauaʻi. I encourage readers to begin developing relationships with these places in Papahānaumokuākea through these names.
First, Papahānaumokuākea is the name given to the region known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands by Dr. Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele in 2007, commemorating the earth and sky union of Papahānaumoku and Wākea as the progenitors of the Hawaiian archipelago.
Beyond Niʻihau, Lehua, and Kaʻula are the first two islands of Papahānaumokuākea still remembered by their Hawaiian names: Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker).
The other islands are Lalo/Kānemilohaʻi (French Frigate Shoals), ʻŌnūnui, ʻŌnūiki/Pūhāhonu (Gardner Pinnacles), Kamokuokamohoaliʻi/Koʻanakoʻa (Maro Reef), Kamole/Kauō (Laysan), Kapou/Papaʻāpoho (Lisianski), Manawai/Holoikauaua (Pearl & Hermes), Kuaihelani/Pihemanu (Midway), and Hōlanikū/Mokupāpapa (Kure).
Remember and speak these names for this is how we reclaim and maintain our connection to our ancestral islands.
