Navigating Native Hawaiian Voices on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)

• In Event: Indigenous Politics Mini-Conference: Indigenous Political Participation

Abstract

In 2018, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser surveyed Native Hawaiian registered voters' support of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), reporting 72% expressing support. The National Science Foundation (NSF), in 2020, plans to fund the TMT after community outreach reports. Despite the seemingly positive and rising support for the telescope by survey data, using registered voter data is flawed when capturing Native Hawaiian voices. Using the 2019 Native Hawaiian Survey, we analyze the responses of over 1,000 Native Hawaiians. In the 2019 Native Hawaiian Survey, the responses from Native Hawaiians conferred an overall 88% of Native Hawaiian respondents did not support the building of TMT on Mauna Kea. This paper models the determinants of support and opposition to the TMT. Implications of this research lead to new ways to center Native and Indigenous voices in research.

Authors

• Leilani DeLude

• Ngoc Phan, Hawaii Pacific University