Looking Beyond the Degree: How Cultural Identity Impacts Transformative Community-Focused Work

• In Event: Exploring the Tension Between Higher Education and Native Ways of Knowing: Challenges and Possibilities for Creative Spaces

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to explore the impact of being grounded in cultural identity as a tool for place-based and indigenous peoples to succeed in their western higher education institutions and use their degrees to do transformative community-focused work. As the number of place-based and indigenous students entering into western-centric higher education institutions as undergraduates as well as graduate students continues to steadily increase, it is imperative to learn and understand how to not only retain and graduate these students, but also how to support the emergence of their own voices and how to allow their cultural assets to guide their work. In doing so, their academies as well as their communities will benefit from not only their scholarly work, but also from the transformative action that will result from their research.
Specifically, ancestral stories and knowledge will be highlighted as foundational to identity formation and to linking academic work with community action. Therefore, the presenter will utilize both narrative and auto-ethnography to explore the impact of her traditional cultural stories as well as her own life experiences as key elements in the evolution of her own cultural identity as well as how her indigenous grounding has helped her survive and succeed in the western world of academia. Furthermore, the presenter will analyze how her cultural teachings impact her commitment and focus on her community’s needs.
Social constructivist theory that respects and includes local history, culture, and politics serves as a foundation for this work. In addition, the Hawaiian framework of ‘ohana or family, will be used to highlight the importance of familial relationships and genealogical connections as a basis for servant leadership in the Hawaiian world.

Author

• Kaiwipuni Lipe, University of Hawaii - Manoa