Manu Aluli Meyer. The Role of History, Intention, and Function: More Thoughts on Hawaiian Epistemology

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1 The Role of History, Intention, and Function: More Thoughts on Hawaiian Epistemology Manu Aluli Meyer I have stumbled upon a triangulation method to figure out our present-day epistemological location. Slowly we exit this forest of tangled hopes and overgrown apathy. It is a daily reckoning, a moment-to-moment discipline. We reshape history with defined intention tied to people, place, and function. Prepare yourself. Here we go. All understanding occurs within a specific historical location. Linda Martin Alcoff I am writing during the Kaulua days of Ho oilo. It is dual cold, hot; bright, dark; still, windy. Weather changes in a moment, and when it does, we thrill to the touch of a cool breeze during the heat of noon under an empty blue sky. It is winter there is purpose to what opens, closes and to what sheds its leaves now. The kukui cling, lehua sleeps in the cold uplands, sands migrate to leave pøhaku kua on our shorelines, and koholå come to birth their young in the warm embrace of Kohe-mÅlamalama-o-Kanaloa. It is the time of KË, of energy, of movement, of potentiality. This is the time our sun marches toward Ka ala and MÅ ili. There is a charge in the air and today I stay home to find, write and be altered by it. I have been changed by my awareness of those living things that exist outside and inside my consciousness. They thrive, despite my ignorance, and wait patiently for my recognition. Some refer to the idea of potentiality and connection as Chaos Theory, but I call it Ea. This is the idea that what animates us has never left, and thus what helps us thrive is always here. It is personal sovereignty the kind that always comes before po litical. My sister, Maile, calls this model A Nation Within and it is my favorite ideal during this ho oulu. It is a way of seeing the world and our connection to it or our separation from it. It brings me to Hawaiian Education and the topic I would like to speak more about this idea of epistemology or our growing understanding of what knowl-

2 edge is, what is worth knowing, and indeed, how we arrived at this måka a of learning and intelligence. 1 To begin with, I must admit that thinking about how we think has placed me in a constant state of meta-consciousness that must be annoying to friends and family. They have survived my passion, however, to help bring forth three main components that shape the reality of knowledge: history, intention, function. History and its role in knowing something Kohala i ka unupa a Kohala of the solid stone The people of Kohala were known for their firm attitudes What is the role of history in what is worth knowing? Is history an event that keeps us shackled to mindless repetition or is it a clue on our path toward liberation and right action? For many, history and the ideas embedded in culture helps us think about the distinctness of a people and how that uniqueness thrives or shrinks in the contexts we now find ourselves. Culture has been described as actions, beliefs and values that a group of people agree are best practices. It is specific to place, climate, and time. Culture has an origin, a present expression and a future design. With regard to knowledge, the specifics of culture are what springs from scores of generations living in one location. That knowledge, shaped by space and time, is open to historic influences and becomes current because it is the nature of culture to survive. I would like to suggest, however, that the form of knowledge adapts but the essence remains strong, vital and swims in a cultural stream that has never stopped flowing even though some of us no longer linger on its shorelines. Of course, how one maintains this essence then becomes the process question a cornerstone discussion for this topic of epistemology. Fundamental to this process or essence part of knowledge is the idea of power. It has been shown that when knowledge becomes despotic there is only one way and it is ours it will have lost its purpose and as function is key to the vigor of a people, knowledge that works to oppress and intimidate is intelligence gone stale. History will have lost its freshness and culture will no longer be the best practices of a group of people, but a myopic idea of a few. This knowledge does not last long and is overturned by the many. The irony of this is that even good projects, good ideas, good movements end if they loses sight of the people. Culture does not exist with self-righteous thugs at the door it is the inherent right of all of us to shape it as we all evolve. The we is a kåkou we. This is why history lives in our current understanding of consciousness and why it is an invaluable tool to direct our future. We have seen what has come before us, we have experienced what went wrong, and we know the truth in actions that did not exist in the larger context of spirit. These ideas have a role to play in what intelligence is in our modern world shaped by capitalistic priorities. History teaches us how we are to behave with regard to what is worth knowing and how that knowledge helps us. There is an element of conscious continuity when we understand history s role in Hawaiian epistemology a knowing that steps from context and not simply around it. This idea, that knowing shifts in space and time, teaches us of contextual understanding as a dynamic experience of knowing because it brings all history to bear during the moment information is shared. Are we ready for that quality of exchange? It harkens back to the idea of ho opåpå, the debates, riddles and intellectual bantering of magnificent minds wrangling with sounds, words and images to bend knowledge to unknown realms. We honored the constant expansion of what knowledge meant, and we did so in a context that allowed for multiple realities to exist. Thus victory was secured. But does this occur in a 12th grade science class? On a good day, it does.

3 History makes context the center of why we value what we do and places us in an idealistic extension from past to present because it has worked before. Why not now? What are the roadblocks to why we do not allow humility to shape our ideas of assertiveness or silence to shape our ideas of articulation? Why do we cover ourselves in predictable and mainstream forms of leadership and wonder why Robert s Rules don t empower the communication efforts of our people? Why do we insist that our own history is a static notion and not a dynamic way of being? History, our Hawaiian history, is more than a tale of hope, horror and nihilism. It is our genetic inheritance that we must now recognize, name, watch, and learn from. History, the time we face, changes the priorities of knowledge and helps us re-enter our own common sense. We effectively can triangulate our bearings with historic realities that we define. Here is the key that hermeneutics un-earths for us: historical understanding is shaped by those who speak it, write it, teach it. This is why we are entering a new era of clarity. We are seeing it and we are speaking it and we are teaching it. This history will inevitably change our present understanding and alter our future directions if we allow its truth to soak deep. Intention and its role in knowing something Ke ho i a ela ka Øpua i Awalau The rain clouds are returning to Awalau Said of a return to the source The origin of thought, even before sound begins to shape language, is found in intention. This is why it was hewa to even think of slapping a child s head the first piko that connects us to our këpuna. The thought was said to have been punishable with consequences seen and unseen. Here is where history sits down to chat with mind. Given the nature of protocol, or the rituals for how one enters the ocean and forest, or even our neighbor s yard, is it any wonder that Hawaiians have something to say about intention? Intention is the portal to right action, it inspires motivation, movement, and why we understand anything. We must first watch our intention, then prepare, then set out into excellence. How can this happen in classrooms set up to create uniform thinkers? A distinctly empowered identity is simply impossibility in this scenario and the creative mind, the awakened child, or the cultural adolescent will naturally question, and sometimes resist, what is considered mainstream. This is a good thing. Current research that links Hawaiian cultural alignment with poor educational achievement highlights this tension. There is always more than meets the eye in research, especially with regard to what exactly is appropriate understanding of Hawaiian culture. How do we know our youth exhibit or practice the true depth of what it means to be courageous, and are they shaped by aloha? Or do they just exist as cartoon caracatures on the back of KOA WARRIOR t-shirts? I believe that many of our children do not have a true grounding in nå mea waiwai and thus resist mainstream norms because their idea of culture demands it of them. Hawaiian culture does exist in this scenario; it is simply not the culture that has birthed itself around thirty-six ali i at KËkaniloko. Inherent in this discussion of the correlation with culture and poor SAT scores is the assumption that our current system is the ideal and that students who do not aspire to that goal are at risk. Surely, someone can stand up to that weakest of arguments: If you re not like us, then you are deficient. We are more than the sum of our empirical parts and liabilities and more than the average of someone else s norm, and we are certainly more than our incomes. We are Hawaiians living in colonized islands, in breathtaking beauty in the center of the Pacific Ocean and it is our intention that links us to a wider menu of knowledge

4 opportunities and intellectual pursuits. Of course, intentions are inspired by history, culture and the needs of those around us. We know that knowledge is responsibility so why give us only information or the promise of minimum wage work? Understanding intention deepens the dialogue we can have with schools as they become places for practice, moral development, and cultural extension. We did not teach children who did not want to learn. Maria Montessori and John Dewey would applaud our sensibility here. We understood that energy was perfect if we did not muddy its intention. What is the child interested in? How do we match their interest with the needs of our society? What does it really mean to educate someone? Here is the fine line intention leads us to walk on. What do we really wish for our children? What is the intention of our lives and how will we best thrive? We have let others answer those questions for us. This is why history is a dynamic tool a tool that is now being shaped by our own minds. Soon, our new history, the history we write will alter my reality, change my faith and allow me to re-enter my own sense of self-efficacy. I will see that a Hawaiian idea of intelligence is a fullness that modernity struggles with, a round and rich expression of place and people that is old and new as winter is both hot and cold. Soon I will experience knowledge as something I create, a balance between mind and body, history and this present moment. It will be my intention that slices through mediocre epistemological expectations and serves up a more life-sustaining example of what happens when all of my mana, my shadow exists inside of me a moment when I am truly akamai. We will all be a part of re-defining what intelligence is because we will know more of what it was. We will know, we will know. Function and its role in knowing something The belief that meaning was tied to learning was not something hidden or subtle for Hawaiians. It is the core of why we do things it must have a function for information to become knowledge and knowledge to become understanding. 2 Relative to epistemology: if history/culture is the dynamic energy that forms knowledge and gives us cues that help us prioritize it, and intention is how we engage in it, then function becomes the consciousness it will exist in. It slows down the process of information overload to ask the questions: What is the purpose of this exercise? Will it serve my family? Will it benefit my community? How does it extend the quality of our lives? Knowledge that holds function at its center moves our students into action and a better understanding of the roles of history and intention. English is strengthened when letters get written to state senators, identity is sustained when those letters are written in Hawaiian. History and oppression comes to life when students study ancient waterways and why they are trash dumps today. Science makes sense when mo olelo synergizes with water salinity and coral growth patterns in the places you wish to heal. Botany, Astronomy, Geology all make sense when there is a purpose, meaning and function to the knowledge that is gained. And when morality lies at the core of your lessons, ike pono wakes us up and helps us work toward a more equitable future by understanding what went wrong, why, and what can be done complex issues for your fourth grade class, but necessary as we head into a life of mana, meaning and purpose. This is an old idea that modern Hawai i places in such categories as vocational, utilitarian, and sometimes, remedial. It is a grossly misunderstood aspect of epistemology to label functional knowledge as something less-than. The notion of function is not polar to an abstract idea it simply harnesses both abstract and utilitarian principles toward an end. For Hawaiians, knowledge for knowledge sake

5 was a waste of time. Everything, absolutely everything had function. Our mistake is believing that the wars of Mesopotamia are more important than knowing how UmialÈloa strengthened the ideals of his day. It is now a battle we wage everyday as educators. The battle is about choice. What do we want our children to know? What are our priorities as Hawaiians? I sense that we have become nihilistic with regard to helping our system change to better reflect our priorities, our values, our needs as the first peoples of this place. Indeed, many of us hope our children can enter private schools, then at least they have a better shot at mainstream income potentials. 2Meyer, Manu. Native Hawaiian Epistemologies: Contemporary Narratives. Unpublished dissertation. Boston: Harvard University, That understandably, is where we are today. It has boiled down to jobs and income. Everything. The philosophy of capitalism shapes our epistemology and all the idealistic rantings I can muster will make little difference unless we also link this epistemological movement with sustainable economics, creativity and with the land movement currently under way. This is how I believe we will survive in these next hundred years. We will have to shape alternative ways of existing. We have always had this option, but as we live in one of the most expensive destinations in the world, we have not had the chance to really stretch our minds into it. Now, let us begin. 1Epistemology comes from the Greek word episteme which means knowledge. It is the study or philosophy of knowledge. It seeks to answer the questions: what is knowledge, how do we know, and what is worth knowing? Epistemology is more than Hawaiian ways of knowing, it is absolutely key to cultural continuity, distinct identity and understanding systems of power that would deter these truths from existing. Hawaiian epistemology does not thrive in our current structure of colonial education but there are signs of it in the Hawaiian Charter School movement with Dr. KË Kahakalau as our rangatira.