Be Kautious Stay Humble

In this episode we decided to have a talk story sesh with our good friend Jordann (with TWO N’s). Jordann is from Haiku, Maui and now currently resides in the heart of Waikiki. She is also majoring in Hawaiian Studies and Biology. In this episode we talk about many different topics such as checking up on each other, what would be the first things we would do when Hawai’i gains it’s sovereignty back, and much more! Mahalo Jordann (yes, with two N’s) for joining us again! If anyone is interested in joining us for a possible future podcast episode, feel free to contact us. Mahalo Nui Loa for the support!

This episode is about the Great Mahele or The Great Divide in Hawai’i. We emphasize how the Great Mahele was a GOOD thing and helped to ensure that Hawai’i was protected in case of a foreign takeover. We also highlight how the translation from ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi to English and how the use of language changed the meaning of these important land documents. We also emphasized that Native Hawaiians in fact OWN LAND and how giving it to that mindset of “Hawaiians didn’t own land” disempowers our people whether you meant to or not. All in all this was a very complex topic and we both really tried our best to break it down and help to urge you folks why it is so important to know these things today especially when our own people are struggling to reclaim land back that’s rightfully ours. If anyone of you are truly interested in learning more about land tenure in Hawai’i, go checkout Chinen and Kuykendall as a good primary source to look at.

In this episode we decided to open up the conversation by focusing on the many switched paradigms we’ve seen all throughout Oceania and the world. We took a look at how problematic it is to group up different Oceanic cultures into categories, and how shortening words from a language especially ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi can be extremely disrespectful. We also touched base on how in the Hawaiian culture it is said that "in language there is life and in language there is death" to help reiterate the fact that many Oceanic cultures throughout the Pacific also had that same cultural concepts, which we helped to bridge that connection when looking at the Māori tattoos on the womenʻs chins. We also then decided to look at labels and how that can be a bit problematic especially for the Black community. We also noticed how people have clear distinct opinions and perspectives of what labels are considered derogatory and others labels are more acceptable when looking at the much older generations as compared to todayʻs younger generations. All in all, we should be cautious of the words we use and understand the effects of these words when misused. Mahalo Nui Loa for listening.

*EASTER EGG*

Also in this video, we both explicitly hinted at a few of our newest design for our sticker that will hopefully be available for all of you folks to purchase on Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Hawaiian Independence Day (November 28).

*We apologize in advance for all the loud background noise throughout this episode* This episode tackles the many different early encounters as well as experiences Europeans have documented through their art and or journal of the Native people of Oceania. From places like Tahiti, Guåhan, Marquesas Island, and even Hawai’i, many foreigners have looked at our communities as: helpless savages in need of a colonial fixation into civilization. We also talk about the hyper sexualization of our Native women and how it’s crucial to have some understanding of Pacific Islander cultural and religious contexts when looking at these early encounters, especially with the naked artwork we commonly see. As this podcast slowly drew on to getting more heated, we decided to look at some of the positive influences of Western concepts like education and religion. We also looked at other forms of influences such as ‘Iolani Palace.

This episode focuses primarily on Mental Health. Due to the overwhelming amount of schoolwork last week, we decided to share our own personal mental health experiences from last week pause of regularly scheduled program. From there we decided to shed light on other aspects prevalent today because of current issues. We also tackle depression through our own experiences as well as other’s experiences here in our family, home, oceanic cousins in the diaspora, and many others around the world. Although we defined and expressed our own views and interpretation on depression, we hope that we highlighted the significance of these issues without being too careless or overbearing. If at at any point we might have offended you, please feel free to reach out to us and let us know, for this way we could also share new information as well as be more educated on topics today that are important to us. Also we just wanted to say much mahalo for all the love and support we have received in our sticker and pin orders! We truly appreciate it!

In this episode, we decided to share with you folks a little bit more about ourselves through self introductions such as: where did we go to school, where we’re from, how we met (cliff note version lol), and how we both came about to starting this podcast. We also shared a bit more about the name of our podcast and the intentions we envisioned when creating this space. We then ended the episode by updating you folks on how we’re currently doing with online classes as well as sharing a little bit more on some of the products we’re working on for our business. Mahalo Nui Loa for supporting us this far!

In this episode we decided to highlight these labels of regions : Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia by defining what it means and how problematic it can be when being use to describe a particular country and or culture. We then decided to explore other labels as well as possible solutions to better represent our people and our home. We also briefly mention the terms Near and Remote Oceania from an Academia standpoint. With that we conclude our very first season in our podcast. Mahalo Nui Loa for all the support so far, and we will see you all again in 2 weeks with more planned out content!

In this episode we decided to highlight tattooing in the Pacific. We started off by defining what tātau and kākau means, and where it derives from. We also talked about the importance of these traditional patterns and how they are key to documenting and preserving history. We hope many of you were able to learn something from this episode and hopefully have a much more deeper appreciation for traditional tattoo patterns of Oceania. Mahalo Nui Loa!

This episode highlights a topic brought to us by one of our good friends to speak up about. We explain what a settler scholar is and how through education, settlers can either become a settler ally or a settler colonizer. We also gave our own personal interpretations as how to approach the topic at hand, as well as give our own personal examples. Mahalo Nui Loa for listening!