A Critical Review of Culture-Based Education at Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai

• In Event: Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Decolonizing Evaluation: Case Studies of a Critical Framework of Review on Culturally and Community-Responsive Curricula

Abstract

The Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment outlined the need for institutions to implement learning models that will “effectively engage Native Hawaiian students through hands-on learning and lessons framed within authentic experiences, projects, and places” (Kanaʻiaupuni, Malone, & Ishibashi, 2005, p. 15). Culture-based education is grounded in connections to the land, culture, and community, which “create a rich educational environment that nourishes spiritual, physical, and educational well-being ” (Kana‘iaupuni, Ledward, & Jensen, 2010, p. 3). This study provides a critical review of Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai, a Native Hawaiian culture-based experiential learning center and cultural garden situated within the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the ahupuaʻa (land division) of Waikīkī, moku (district) of Kona, mokupuni (island) of Oʻahu.

In 1980, a group of UH Mānoa students found remnants of an ancient ʻauwai, an irrigation system that brought water from the mountains throughout the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī producing food in loʻi kalo (taro patches) and flowing out to the ocean through loko iʻa (fishponds). With guidance from kūpuna (elders) like Uncle Harry Kunihi Mitchell of Maui, this group of students known as Hoʻokahe Wai Hoʻoulu ʻĀina restored the ancient loʻi dating back to the 1400s. For over 30 years Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai has served as a puʻuhonua (sanctuary) and a place for the community to practice and perpetuate the Hawaiian culture, offering college credit courses in kalo (taro) farming, monthly community workdays, and service learning opportunities for students of all ages.

Current UH Mānoa students whom voluntarily came to Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai for multiple purposes such as class, work, or to relax were asked to participate in the interview portion of the study. Curricula materials, seven semi-structured interviews, and three participant observations were reviewed by a “Critical Framework of Review” adapted from Halagao, Tintiangco-Cubales, & Cordova's (2009) Critical Framework for Review of Filapina/o American Curriculum. Freire (2000) discusses problem-posing education as creating spaces for students and teachers to develop a critical understanding of the problems in their world, including finding ways to pursue decolonization, freedom, and liberation. Drawing from this theory and adapting the three categories of critical content, critical instruction, and critical impact presented in Halagao et al. (2009), a Critical Framework for Review of 16 question was developed to look at how Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai engaged college students in culture-based learning and encouraged students to be change-agents in their community.

This study concludes with a summary detailing how Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai pursues critical pedagogy. Findings suggest the sharing of moʻolelo (oral histories) as teaching strategies, ma ka hana ka ʻike, a Hawaiian principle of learning by doing, and the spiritual connection experienced when engaging with the ʻāina (land), as evidence of pursuing critical pedagogy. The Critical Framework for Review provided a method for culture-based curriculum to be evaluated through a lens rooted in critical pedagogy. Findings may contribute to improving educational services offered at Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai and a possible framework for future evaluation of culture-based community responsive curricula.

Author

• Summer Maunakea, Ho'okulaiwi - University of Hawaii Manoa