Read this article in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
By Pōlani Kahakalau
In 2015, a group of innovators and visionaries met in Portugal to reclaim diverse knowledges, relationships and imaginations and design new approaches to higher education. Called the Ecoversities Alliance the group included EA Ecoversity founder Dr. Kū Kahakalau and her daughter, ʻIʻini.
“Meeting with these dynamic change agents from around the world inspired us to start EA Ecoversity,” Kahakalau said. “We already had a history of radically transforming teaching and learning as a result of starting Kanu o ka ʻĀina, Hawaiʻiʻs first culture-based K-12 charter school (which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year). More importantly, we were acutely aware of the need for culture-based post-secondary education and training to help our ʻōpio stay in Hawaiʻi.”
Since then, EA Ecoversity representatives have contributed to Ecoversity gatherings in transformative learning spaces in Costa Rica, Mexico and India, and sponsored two Pacific Regional Gatherings, with a third planned for Tahiti in 2027.
In addition, EA Ecoversity has participated in numerous learning exchanges, online conferences, collaborative projects and publications that aim to cultivate human and ecological flourishing and transform the unsustainable and unjust economic, political and social systems, and mindsets that dominate the planet.
In 2022, EA Ecoversity officially became a nonprofit organization. EA stands for “Education with Aloha” but also means “sovereignty” in Hawaiian, since one of EA Ecoversityʻs goals is to reclaim our own Hawaiian processes of learning and our own processes of Hawaiian knowledge perpetuation, creation and sharing.
This right is affirmed by Article 14.1 of UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) which states, “Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.”
As Hawaiʻi’s first independent, culture-based, post-secondary education and career training and micro-credentialing program, EA Ecoversity provides blended online and offline learning in an atmosphere of aloha, where all are respected and cared for. Moreover, EA Ecoversity’s free programs offer hands-on experiences, paid internships, and personalized learning and career exploration.
In fall 2024, EA Ecoversity launched Kanaka Culinary Arts, a tuition-free, two-year blended program, training young Hawaiians to enter Hawaiʻi’s food industry with skills in preparing Hawaiian and Hawaiʻi-sourced foods. This program also advances traditional ecological knowledge and contributes to cultural and ecological regeneration.
Other EA Ecoversity offerings tailored to increasing traditional knowledge among native Hawaiians, expanding Hawaiian consciousness, and building solidarities include our annual Kanaka Culinary Explosion. In November 2024, this event brought together over 200 Hawaiian ʻohana to learn about integrating Hawaiian ingredients into their holiday meals, as well as to become more informed about Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Hawaiian Independence Day.
For more information about EA Ecoversity’s programs and events, to volunteer as a mentor or internship provider, or join our dynamic learning ʻohana as staff or as a participant, contact Pōlani Kahakalau pōlani@kuakanaka.com. Also follow EA Ecoversity on FB and IG @kuakanaka (our fiscal supporter) for our latest in-person and virtual events, courses and programs, or subscribe to our mailing list at www.kuakanaka.com.
