 were words declared by our Mōʻī Kauʻikeaouli Kamehameha III, promoting the importance of education and literacy in the Hawaiian Kingdom.){kind=link}
“He aupuni palapala koʻu; ʻo ke kanaka pono ʻoia koʻu kanaka” (Mine is the kingdom of education; the righteous man is my man) were words declared by our Mōʻī Kauikeaouli Kamehameha III, promoting the importance of education and literacy in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
This quote resonates with me, as it speaks to the mission and importance of higher education here in Hawaiʻi and, in particular, the University of Hawaiʻi.
Hawaiʻi’s University for Today and Tomorrow is UH’s strategic plan for 2023-2029. It is also important to note the university’s imperative on kuleana and what it means to be an Indigenous- serving and Indigenous-centered institution.
This inspired the name of my new monthly column, “He Aupuni Palapala: Native Hawaiian Higher Education,” whose purpose is to share and highlight Native Hawaiians, programs, and initiatives throughout the 10 UH campuses that fulfill this kuleana.
There are many newsworthy Native Hawaiian programs and initiatives to share and many Native Hawaiian individuals to highlight.
Hui ʻĀina Pilipili, the program I lead at UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences, is the college’s Native Hawaiian Initiative. Its mission is to strengthen ea Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian sovereignty) in the social sciences through Hawaiian-centered teaching, learning, service, and scholarship while cultivating pilina and kuleana with students, ʻāina, and communities to strengthen lāhui and Hawaiʻi.
The college’s signature program is our “Nā Koʻokoʻo: Hawaiian Leadership Program.” It is for Native Hawaiian students as well as non-Hawaiian students with strong commitments to Native Hawaiian communities. A key goal is to help participants clarify their kuleana and to see their education in the context of uplifting ʻāina and people. Through two courses and immersive community-engaged experiences with Hawaiian community organizations, scholars, and leaders, student participants learn how to meaningfully apply their academic studies beyond the university campus.
Other initiatives include: “Pili i ke Kanaka: Indigenous Social Sciences Speaker Series” (www.youtube.com/@huiainapilipili) that features Indigenous scholars, practitioners, and leaders; curriculum support and development focused on Hawaiian and Indigenous planning; course offerings like “Pilina: Topics in Indigenous Social Sciences” as well as classes in Indigenous research and data, nonprofit and public administration, geospatial information science (GIS), and anthropology and archaeology; and our “Keala: Educational Career Pathways” program (funded by the UHM Provost’s Strategic Investment Initiative supporting paid-internships with organizations like Liliʻuokalani Trust and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands). We also work to support our faculty through professional development in community and ʻāina-based engagement, Hawaiian culture and history, and Indigenizing and decolonizing course curriculum development.
We continued to strengthen ea Hawaiʻi in the social sciences in 2024 and are reinvigorated for what 2025 will bring us as an Indigenous-serving and Indigenous-centered college and university. As we expand our faculty and our programs, we expand and reach out into our communities to provide innovative programs for our students and for our community.