Claire de Mézerville López welcomes ʻIhilani Lasconia and Noenoe K. Silva, to the Restorative Works! Podcast.  Noenoe and ʻIhilani join us to share their passionate insight on the imperative nature of preserving, restoring, and honoring Hawaiian culture and language.

Noenoe shares her journey of reclaiming Native Hawaiian history through the lens of ʻOlelo Hawaii, the Hawaiian language. Her work dismantles long-standing myths and stereotypes, revealing the rich intellectual and cultural legacy of the Hawaiian people. ʻIhilani delves into their advocacy for gender justice within the Hawaiian community. As a transnational feminist and doctoral student, ʻIhilani discusses the need to confront heteropatriarchy, drawing from their acclaimed paper, cowritten with Noenoe, that has resonated deeply within their community. Together, Noenoe and ʻIhilani discuss the broader implications of restorative justice, emphasizing the need for communities to reclaim their stories and identities. 

Noenoe K. Silva is Kanaka Hawaiʻi from Kailua, Oʻahu. She is a professor of Hawaiian and Indigenous Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and Cooperating Faculty at the Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language. She is the author of Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism and The Power of the Steel-Tipped Pen: Reconstructing Native Hawaiian Intellectual History, both published by Duke University Press, and numerous journal articles. Her research interests include the reclamation of ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian knowledge) through the furtherance of understanding of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, mele Hawaiʻi, and moʻolelo Hawaiʻi, (Hawaiian language, poetic genres, literature, and history) and the reconstruction of histories of Hawaiʻi through the archives written in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi by kūpuna Hawaiʻi (ancestors).

ʻIhilani Lasconia is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi student, artist, and organizer from Waimānalo, Oʻahu. As an activist and transnational feminist, ‘Ihilani is a member of Af3irm Hawai‘i – a wāhine-led organization centered on ending patriarchal violence through decolonization and anti-imperialism. They are currently a doctoral student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa studying political science with the hopes of bringing Indigenous knowledge to the forefront of our education system. In the spring of 2021, ʻIhilani graduated with their Bachelor of Arts in ethnic studies, and in the summer of 2022, they graduated with their master’s degree in education. As an artist, ‘Ihilani’s work is rooted in the geopolitical landscape of Hawai‘i and their experience being queer and Native in the 21st century.

Tune in to learn more about Noenoe and ʻIhilani’s perspective on a future where Indigenous knowledge and restorative practices guide the path toward true sovereignty and justice.