A huakaʻi is a journey taken with purpose and intention. In contrast to a pleasure-seeking tour of “must-see” attractions, our kūpuna set off on huakaʻi with humility, respect, and an open mind, allowing themselves to be moved and transformed by the people and places they meet along the way. In a similar spirit, I invite you to join in this virtual huakaʻi to the “Hidden Hawaiʻi” experienced by a group of classroom teachers and graduate students in my semester-long course in Contemporary Native Hawaiian Education. We’ll journey back in time to uncover the suppressed histories of a once flourishing and internationally recognised Hawaiian nation. We’ll lay bare the stark, contemporary realities behind the touristic sheen of glossy postcard images and expose the US military’s thinly veiled threats to our Native existence. Finally, we’ll venture to hidden kipuka or tucked away oases of aloha ʻāina that have thus far resisted the ravages of rampant capitalism and development – small sovereign spaces where Kānaka can put our hands to the soil once more to unearth, cultivate, and reimagine visions of more sovereign and sustainable, Indigenous Hawaiian futures.
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