Stories of Multigenerational Resistance to Internalized Oppression within a Majority-Hawaiian Community

• In Event: Imagining Futures: Themes of Decolonization, Empowerment, and Mentorship within Indigenous Contexts in Education

Abstract

Drawn from a wider examination of Native Hawaiian resistance to internalized oppression, the conscious and unconscious acceptance of intersecting social hierarchies that reinforce and reproduce discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, and stigma, this paper identifies stories and genealogies as integral to the transmission of resistance to Indigenous youth. Using a Critical Race Wāhine ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian women) Research paradigm grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being and community-engaged design principles, this study re-stories a majority-Hawaiian community on O‘ahu as a generative site for resistance and social change. Findings offer valuable insights into how young people internalize notions of identity and culture through verbal and non-verbal discourses circulating in community-based networks.

Author

• Kourtney Kawano, University of California - Berkeley