EP 65 DLNR forester Ed Pettys and Na Ala Hele program manager Debbie Chang on the value of connecting people to places through trails and land stewardship
In this interview, Melissa and Clay interview husband and wife team Ed Pettys and Debbie Chang from their home in Paʻauilo mauka on Hawaiʻi Island about their work helping to connect people to Hawaiian landscapes beginning in the late 1960s. They talk about growing up in Hawaiʻi–Ed from Lihue, Kauaʻi and Debbie from Kohala, Hawaiʻi and meeting through their work in the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Debbie helped to spearhead the new Na ʻAla Hele trails and access program in the 1980s while Edʻs work took him across Micronesia–from Pohnpei to Kosrae, and eventually to Kauaʻi as Forestry and Wildlife District manager. Theirs is a collective understanding of the importance of teamwork and leadership especially in the wake of hurricane Iniki.
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1:39:29
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1:39:29
EP 64 Contemporary art professor Jaimey Faris and fire scientist Clay Trauernicht on how story telling and land care can help us envision a world beyond capitalism
In this interview, co-hosts Melissa Chimera, Clay Trauernicht and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa art professor Dr. Jaimey Faris explore how their respective fields in art and science critically examine the social and political paradigms that separate humans from each other and the world around us. They trade perspectives on what a sustainable and a thriving future might look like for all living beings—as manifested in the present day struggles for indigenous sovereignty and liberation from Lahaina to Papua New Guinea and Palestine. Clay and Jaimey talk about their respective upbringings in New York and California amidst economic and social class disparities and how that led them to engage with the underrepresented from all over the world—from kanaka maoli in Hawaiʻi striving for access to water to Mexican women manufacturing goods—via their respective fields of fire science and art.
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1:53:09
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1:53:09
EP 63 Museum studies director Noelle Kahanu on repairing the human connection between land and people through the arts
Noelle MKY Kahanu is a bridge builder across art, policy and social justice through her work as a museum curator, legal scholar, Hawaiian rights activist, and teacher. She is a University of Hawaiʻi Specialist and Interim Director for Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program, having worked for fifteen years previously as a curator and program lead for the Bishop Museum. Noelle tells us of traversing the many worlds of art and activism, beginning in her youth with close family and friends who were involved in class struggles. In this interview, Noelle speaks to a lifetime of "heart work" that combines deep empathy, fortitude and analytical skills–from repatriating Hawaiian human remains to ethnographic and contemporary art exhibitions around radical renewal and healing among often overlooked communities.
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1:34:49
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1:34:49
EP 62 Ethnic studies professor Ty Tengan on re-membering Hawaiian identity in place and cultural practice
Dr. Ty Tengan is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa whose work emphasizes ethnic studies in relation to Hawaiian identity and masculinity, sovereignty, land, and militarism. His activism and work extends to running oral history field schools, cultural workshops, water rights and burial site protection. In this conversation, Melissa and Clay talk about Tenganʻs work in native Hawaiian repatriation, and the profound significance of ʻiwi kupuna burial practices perpetuating indigenous worldview. We discuss the “forced amnesia” of colonization and the re-learning and re-membering Hawaiian traditions and practices, especially those around Hawaiian masculinity.
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1:20:35
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1:20:35
EP 61 Part II: Archaeologist and ethnohistorian Ross Cordy on the rise of Hawaiian kingdoms in ancient Hawai‘i
We continue our two-part conversation with Dr. Ross Cordy, Pacific Island Hawaiian-Pacific studies at University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu. Trained as both an archaeologist and ethnohistorian, Dr. Cordy’s specialty is reconstructing the history of Hawai‘i as told from multiple data sources. In the second half of our discussion, we consider settlement patterns across the Hawaiian archipelago, as well as the rise of countries and kingdoms within the islands themselves. We also talk about the significance of cultural jewels like Wai‘anae and Kukaniloko on O‘ahu and the histories of places in Micronesia.
Hawai`i conservationist and artist Melissa Chimera and University of Hawai`i Mānoa fire and ecosystems scientist Dr. Clay Trauernicht talk with land protectors in Hawai`i and the Pacific about the places they cherish through their professional and ancestral ties. We paint an intimate portrait of today’s land stewards dealing with global crises while problem solving at the local level. Brought to you by the Cooperative Extension Program at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Music ”Raindrops” courtesy Lobo Loco and ”Bale Wengei” courtesy Joshua Rostron.
Ireland