WE ARE ISLANDERS the Majestic Female Figure On

we are islanders aiko yamashiro & noelani goodyear-ka‘öpua The majestic female figure on the cover of this book is artist John “Prime” Hina’s depiction of Pele, the fiery deity who currently resides at Halema‘uma‘u on Hawai‘i Island. In his rendering, Pele holds an ‘umeke—a bowl typically used for containing food—on her right hip. The ‘umeke poi is an important symbol in Hawaiian culture. In many families across the islands, the ‘umeke has traditionally been the center of any shared meal. Once the ‘umeke is un- covered no harsh or injurious words are to be spoken, as the poi will soak up that negative energy and transfer to those who consume it. Traditionally, the bowl was never emptied. Any remaining poi from a meal would be saved. Later, fresh poi would be mixed into the existing contents, so that the food always contained some of the beneficial microorganisms that develop in the fermentation process. An intergenerational mixture of probiotic flora. Here, Pele does not hold an ‘umeke poi, but rather a bowl overflowing with lava and steam. Fire, earth, air, water: all the elements that create land are loosed. Having opened the calabash, this image creates the space for conversations and interactions about the well-being and the futures of Hawai‘i. The words offered within this book are similarly intended to open space for productive discussion about how to protect, enhance, and create value in our islands. Unlike poi, the lava does not keep us from sharing critical opinions or hashing out difficult and contentious issues. The lava does remind us, however, that such conversations can be both destructive and creative. Powerful. When telling us, the editors, about this image, Prime explained that he intended the bowl to symbolize a kind of social contract. This “different kind of contract,” or perhaps, compact of mutual obligation contrasts sharply with the contracts that have allowed the (over)development of urban, suburban, and resort construction in ways that do not typically balance social, envi- ronmental, cultural, and spiritual impacts against the financial bottom line. Copyright © 2014. University of Hawaii Press. All rights reserved. of Hawaii Press. © 2014. University Copyright One way to see this ‘umeke is as an agreement between land and people to care for one another. By placing her at the center, the artist reminds us that our compact with Pele, with the earth herself, is always present whether we Yamashiro, A. (Ed.). (2014). The value of hawaii 2 : ancestral roots, oceanic visions. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from uhm on 2017-12-02 14:38:06. 2 introduction choose to see it and honor it or not. One thing this book argues is that if we do not do better at balancing our human needs and desires with the natural resources and forces of these islands, the ‘äina will hold us accountable. And we love her for it. background Like the book you hold in your hands, the first volume,The Value of Hawai‘i: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future (U of Hawai‘i P, 2010), was a collec- tion of short essays written for a general Hawai‘i audience, on issues ranging from education to prisons, agriculture to the military, the economy to climate change, and more. That first volume set out to help readers understand the current state of the islands through a firm understanding of history. “How did we get here?” the contributors asked. This volume takes that foundation as a point of departure for a new central question: How can more of us protect and enhance what is precious about Hawai‘i for coming generations? How will we feed ourselves? Take care of one another? Negotiate and celebrate dif- ferences? Share resources? Craig Howes and Jon Osorio, editors of the first volume, asked passion- ate experts in each field to bring these wide-ranging issues together to provoke and ground public conversations about what we value, where we are headed, and what we need to do to change course. As part of this commitment to conversation and change, a copy of the book was given to every sitting State Legislator in 2010. The book was taught widely at various campuses of the University of Hawai‘i, Chaminade University, and Hawai‘i Pacific Universi- ty, as well as in various public and private high school classes. A visual debate card game was developed with the help of Mililani High School students, ask- ing youth to create images and arguments about how to work across issues to solve problems they saw in Hawai‘i. And with kökua from innumerable in- dividuals and community groups, dozens of talk-story events were organized in 2010 and 2011. The voices gathered in this second volume are hopeful about the future, and they urge us toward changes in perspective. On the cover of volume one, Kamehameha looks to George Washington. However, when we are locked in a gaze toward the US continent (what so many still call “the mainland”), we tend to see our islands, our unique cultural knowledges, and even ourselves as small, inconsequential, disempowered, and inferior. This view of Hawai‘i Copyright © 2014. University of Hawaii Press. All rights reserved. of Hawaii Press. © 2014. University Copyright as an isolated US outpost has been both perpetuated and resisted by a gen- eration or two raised in the late territorial and early statehood eras: the post- WWII “baby boomers.” Yamashiro, A. (Ed.). (2014). The value of hawaii 2 : ancestral roots, oceanic visions. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from uhm on 2017-12-02 14:38:06. Yamashiro and Goodyear-Ka‘öpua, We Are Islanders 3 This volume turns our gaze in a different direction. Instead of toward Washington, imagine Kamehameha looking out across the channels that con- nect our island archipelago, and even further, across the vast oceans that con- nect us to the watery world of Oceania—a body that comprises half of the Earth’s surface. It is in these directions that the writers of this volume beck- on you. As Bonnie Kahape‘a-Tanner—captain of the educational sailing ca- noe Känehünämoku—puts it in her contribution to this volume: “We are the people of the Pacific, Moananuiäkea, connected infinitely by the waters that touch each of our shores and flow through our veins” (180). Most of the essays in this volume, The Value of Hawai‘i 2: Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions, were written by authors who were raised after the twilight of the sugar and pineapple plantations. We grew up in the midst and the after- math of a massive urban, suburban, and resort development boom. We have experienced the ways the costs and profits of the industries that replaced sugar and pineapple have not been distributed equally or fairly. We are ‘Öiwi and settlers who have benefitted from the Hawaiian renaissance, and still we see so many unfulfilled promises and obligations to the Hawaiian people and na- tion. We know that our children and grandchildren will carry the full weight of ecological and social problems, such as climate change, growing economic inequality, and erosion of public safety net services, which have been left to us to address. Whether Kanaka ‘Öiwi or recent immigrant, whether from Honolulu or Hanalei, one thing that binds all of us who live in Hawai‘i is that we are islanders. The islands mark us, just as we mark them. Our island world makes the ecological and social challenges that are facing most people in the world today more immediate and apparent. In this second decade of the twenty-first century, we are already witnessing a heightening of the problems of ecosys- tems degradation, fewer available agricultural lands, overtaxed fisheries, and a widening gap between haves and have-nots. With the measureable impacts of global warming already upon us; with the promises of the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative and decisions about major development and transit projects hanging over us; with maxed-out landfills beneath us; and yet with the wisdom of our respective gods, ancestors, and neighbors still around us, the contributors to this book present a distinct sense of urgency, and potential. The current and coming generations will have to execute huge shifts in the ways we live, if we are to preserve and enhance what is precious and of value in our islands. The contributors to this book do not labor under the illusion that such Copyright © 2014. University of Hawaii Press. All rights reserved. of Hawaii Press. © 2014. University Copyright transformation is entirely possible within a single lifetime. (The City and County of Honolulu hasn’t even been able to pass a ban on plastic shopping bags, for goodness sakes.) But we know that if we do not start to plan for and Yamashiro, A. (Ed.). (2014). The value of hawaii 2 : ancestral roots, oceanic visions. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from uhm on 2017-12-02 14:38:06. 4 introduction move toward significant changes in the ways we live on and relate to these lands and waters that support us, the horizons of possibility will be signifi- cantly narrowed for future generations. The voices here open up new conversations, guided by aloha, hopefulness, and creativity. The original title of Dean Saranillio’s essay for this volume was “Another Hawai‘i is Possible,” and that could have been a fitting title for the whole book. The contributors to this volume were invited because each one of them is already working to create the conditions of possibility for major shifts in the ways we produce and consume energy, deal with “waste,” design urban space, grow food, cultivate healthy eating habits, educate our youth, build community, tell stories, promote land-based subsistence practices, care for and pray for one another, and much more.

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