Ritual + Sustainability Science? A Portal into the Science of Aloha (original) (raw)
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Ritual +Sustainability Science: A Portal into the Science of Aloha.pdf
Sustainability, 2018
In this paper, we propose that spiritual approaches rooted in the practice of Hawai‘i ritual provide a powerful portal to revealing, supporting, and enhancing our collective aloha (love, fondness, reciprocity, as with a family member) for and dedication to the places and processes that we steward. We provide a case study from Hawai‘i, where we, a group of conservation professionals known as Hālau 'Ōhi’a, have begun to foster a collective resurgence of sacred commitment to the places and processes we steward through remembering and manifesting genealogical relationships to our landscapes through Indigenous Hawaiian ritual expression. We discuss how a ritual approach to our lands and seas makes us better stewards of our places, better members of our families and communities, and more fulfilled individuals. We assert that foundations of the spiritual and the sacred are required for effectively advancing the science of sustainability, the management of natural resources, and the conservation of nature.
Increasing conservation capacity by embracing ritual: kuahu as a portal to the sacred
Pacific Conservation Biology, 2020
E ulu ē E ulu kini o ke Akua Ulu a‘e ‘o Kāne me Kanaloa Ulu ka ‘Ōhi‘a a lau ka wai Ka ‘Ie‘ie Ulu a‘e ke Akua a noho i kona kahu Eia ka wai lā He wai ola E ola ia‘u i ke kumu E ola i ke po‘o, ke po‘o pua‘a E ola i ka pae, ka paepae E ola i nā haumana, nā haumana a pau ‘Eli‘eli kapu, ‘eli‘eli noa In this Pule Ho‘oulu (prayer for inspiration), we are calling ourselves and you, the reader, to embrace growth and perpetuation of life’s many sacred manifestations, to honour the guardians of our places and the sources of our knowledge, and affirm the profound responsibility that is conservation management. This chant initiates the process of kuahu, an altar of Native Hawaiian spiritual practice within Hālau ‘Ōhi‘a, a ritual-based stewardship program in Hawai‘i led by Kumu (master teacher, a primary holder and source of knowledge for the community) Kekuhi Kealiikanakaoleohaililani. This paper outlines how the kuahu process has advanced learner capacity to embrace the many sacred dimensions o...
Kumu Pohaku (Stones as Teachers): Awakening to the Spiritual Dimension of Ecosystems
So What? Now What? – The Anthropology of Consciousness Responds to a World in Crisis (Chapter 12, pp. 317-359). Matthew C. Bronson and Tina R. Fields, Eds. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009
The indigenous Hawaiian concept that one must maintain correct behavior toward pohaku [stones] or risk supernatural retribution is explored in this chapter through participant-observation/grounded theory exploration of the experiences of an undergraduate student group living one semester on the Big Island, brief narrative interviews with local residents, and historical inquiry into early native Hawaiian views about pohaku. After exposure to native stories heard in conjunction with uncanny animistic experiences, students’, locals’, and vacationers’ relationships with the land and its manifestation as the volcano goddess Pele became altered toward more respectful attitudes, a sense of spiritual import in the everyday, and more ecologically sustainable behavior. Just as human consciousness influences behavior and our behavior in turn obviously affects the land, simultaneously the land itself may subtly, yet strongly, influence human consciousness. The pohaku phenomenon opens questions about the influence of story on belief and behavior, the potential for nonhumans to serve as teachers of proper ecological relationship, and how land itself might influence human consciousness. Together, these inquiries can lead to a shift in relational stance from the current paradigm of ownership to a more indigenous stance of belonging. This shift of consciousness carries with it strong implications for our long- term survival as a species.
Embracing the sacred: an indigenous framework for tomorrow’s sustainability science
Sustainability Science, 2015
Mahalo (thank you) for reading our paper. What you will find is an attempt to synthesize and compare the strengths and weaknesses of Indigenous and Western per spectives on sustainability and a proposed path leading to the integration of these two perspectives into a sustainability framework that considers resources as much more than commodities. We enter into this discussion with 50 years of experience between us, both of us products of our experi mentation with the integration that we are advocating. From this experimentation, we have concluded that sacred rela tionship must be the foundation of any successful sustain ability effort, with success achieved only when resource management practices and policies engage the spirit and are aligned with equitable and respectful interactions among human and non-human. By sacred, we refer to those senti ments, actions, and commitments that emerge from spiritbased relationships that are founded on love, respect, care, intimate familiarity, and reciprocal exchange. By spirit, we refer to that which gives life to the material body, the enigma that is our collective conscious, subconscious, and uncon scious beings. In formulating this paper, we made three assumptions: (1) the need to shift our spiritual selves, and our collective weight and resulting ecological footprints, is fully evidenced by the failure of purely Western approaches to sustain the social and biophysical world around us; (2)
The forest has a story: cultural ecosystem services in Kona, Hawai‘i
Ecology and Society, 2014
Understanding cultural dimensions of human/environment relationships is now widely seen as key to effective management, yet characterizing these dimensions remains a challenge. We report on an approach for considering the nonmaterial values associated with ecosystems, i.e., cultural ecosystem services. We applied the approach in Kona, Hawai'i, using 30 semistructured interviews and 205 in-person surveys, striving to balance pragmatism and depth. We found spirituality, heritage, and identity-related values to be particularly salient, with expression of some of these values varying among respondents by ethnicity and duration of residence in Hawai'i. Although people of various backgrounds reported strong spirituality and heritage-related values, Native Hawaiians rated heritage connections as deeper, and lifetime residents portrayed ecosystem-identity connections as more integral to their wellbeing than did people from other backgrounds. The approach also proved useful in identifying concerns not addressed in survey and interview prompts, including postcolonial issues, access to ecosystems, and relationships between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Although understanding these nonmaterial dimensions of human-ecosystem relationships can be complex, emerging techniques eliciting qualitative and quantitative data provide feasible ways of deepening that understanding.
The forest has a story: cultural ecosystem services in Kona, Hawai ‘i
Understanding cultural dimensions of human/environment relationships is now widely seen as key to effective management, yet characterizing these dimensions remains a challenge. We report on an approach for considering the nonmaterial values associated with ecosystems, i.e., cultural ecosystem services. We applied the approach in Kona, Hawai'i, using 30 semistructured interviews and 205 in-person surveys, striving to balance pragmatism and depth. We found spirituality, heritage, and identity-related values to be particularly salient, with expression of some of these values varying among respondents by ethnicity and duration of residence in Hawai'i. Although people of various backgrounds reported strong spirituality and heritage-related values, Native Hawaiians rated heritage connections as deeper, and lifetime residents portrayed ecosystem-identity connections as more integral to their wellbeing than did people from other backgrounds. The approach also proved useful in identifying concerns not addressed in survey and interview prompts, including postcolonial issues, access to ecosystems, and relationships between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Although understanding these nonmaterial dimensions of human-ecosystem relationships can be complex, emerging techniques eliciting qualitative and quantitative data provide feasible ways of deepening that understanding.
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2009
Spirituality, Gary Holthaus argues, is at the heart of the complex and related social and ecological crises that face humans. It is the key to creating a sustainable culture, and yet Holthaus observes that ''I have yet to attend a meeting, lecture or workshop on sustainability that addresses it [spirituality]'' (2008: 6). Holthaus sets out to convince his readers that this spiritual dimension is crucial for the dramatic culture changes necessary to move toward a sustainable society. As the poem from Gary Snyder that opens the book states, ''In making the handle/Of an axe/By cutting wood with an axe/The model is indeed near at hand'' (x). The ''axe handles'' that our culture has on hand as existing models of sustainability are the indigenous societies of the world. This book is one installment in a series published by the University Press of Kentucky titled Culture of the land: A series in the new Agrarianism (Norman Wirzba, ed). The series is dedicated to an interdisciplinary articulation of new agrarianism, which the editorial board suggests consists of a comprehensive worldview that foregrounds human interaction with the land. Interestingly, Holthaus approaches this new agrarianism with old tools. Most of the data in this book is nothing new: Holthaus draws from ancient indigenous wisdom, weaves it together with lessons from Confucius and Lao Tzu, peppers his stories with frequent references to his favorite poets (Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, Robinson Jeffers, and others) and notes the resonance of these ideas with deeper, spiritual understandings of sustainability. But Holthuas's narrative ties these old stories together insightfully, with a nice rhythm, and integrates both ancient and contemporary ideas into a welcome contribution to sustainability discourse. Most importantly, the book highlights the under-appreciated centrality of spirituality to the idea of sustainability.
Sustainability, 2018
Globally, there is growing recongition of the essential role indigneous people have in biocultural conservation. However, there are few cases of applied indigenous resource management today, especially from the indigenous standpoint. In this paper, we provide an example of the maintenance and adaptation of an indigenous resource management system in Hawai'i from the perspective of an instrumental ' ¯ Oiwi (Indigenous Hawaiian) social institution, Kamehameha Schools. Kamehameha Schools is not only the largest private landowner in Hawai'i, but is uniquely tied to a lineage of traditional ali'i (chiefs) resulting in present-day influence, decision-making authority, and wealth to fund a perpetual vision for its ancestral lands and communities. Notably, we share our journey from the perspective of indigenous resource managers, using the ' ¯ Oiwi methodology of mo'ok ¯ u'auhau (genealogy and continuity) to guide our (re)discovery of what it means to steward in an indigenous way. First, we ground ourselves in ' ¯ Oiwi worldviews, recognizing our genealogical and reciprocal connections to '¯ aina (land and sea). Then, we examine the functions of the traditional institution of the ali'i and the chiefly principle of '¯ aina kaumaha—a heavy obligation to steward the biocultural health of lands and seas in perpetuity. We detail how '¯ aina kaumaha has manifested and transferred over generations, from traditional ali'i to the royal Kamehameha line, to Kamehameha Schools as an ali'i institution. Finally, we discuss how we endeavor to meet inherited obligations through Kamehameha Schools' resource management approach today, which includes active stewardship of vast tracts of native ecosystems and Hawai'i's most important cultural sites, influencing biocultural well-being through representing ' ¯ Oiwi perspectives in diverse industries, and developing the next generation of ' ¯ Oiwi stewards. We provide a guide for indigenous organizations (re)defining their ancestral ways of stewardship, as well as for the many non-indigenous agencies with obligations to native lands and people today working to incorporate indigenous systems into their current management. Given that much of the world's lands are indigenous spaces, we argue that the restoration of effective biocultural resource management systems worldwide requires the maintenance, and in some cases reestablishment, of indigenous institutions at multiple levels.