Our Hui: Community of Practice

​The Kali‘uokapa‘akai Collective is a hui of thought leaders, practitioners, change agents, and advocates in cultural resource management and related fields. Our members come from our communities, government agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, social enterprises, private sector firms, and Native Hawaiian serving institutions. We first came together in June 2017 to determine our collective values, express our intentions, and to formally establish a community of practice that aims to mālama our wahi kūpuna.

Huliauapaʻa’s role in supporting the collective is likened to holding the ‘umeke that houses the paʻakai. Huliauapaʻa is committed to holding the ‘umeke by gathering advocates in wahi kupuna stewardship and pooling our resources together for the benefit of our ʻāina and lāhui.

Our Inoa

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​​The Kali‘uokapa‘akai Collective’s name derives from a term coined by the late Uncle Eddie Kaanana, which literally means “the essence of salt.” It illustrates the powerful Hawaiian metaphor of paʻakai as an agent of protection, preservation, healing, and bringing people together. It draws strength from the notion that we are a resilient people that can survive in the harshest of conditions and when we pool and share our resources together (e pū paʻakai kākou), we can achieve any goal. The concept of paʻakai also calls to mind the historical landmark legal case, Ka Pa‘akai o ka ‘Āina, that reaffirmed the traditional and customary rights of Native Hawaiians.   ​

Our Purpose

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​The Kali‘uokapa‘akai Collective was created from the  need to organizing our ideas, resources, and strategies to build capacity and take collective action in safeguarding our wahi kupuna. Thus, the Kali‘uokapa‘akai Collectives purpose is to strengthen wahi kupuna stewardship through collaboration and collective efforts.

Our Vision and Mission

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Our vision is empowered communities restoring, reinvigorating, and stewarding Hawaiʻi’s wahi kūpuna. And our mission is to collectively activate and fulfill our kuleana to protect Hawaiʻi’s wahi kūpuna and ʻike kūpuna.

Our Values

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Collectively, we stand upon a set of values that are the foundation of our efforts to mālama wahi kūpuna:

»     Aloha ʻĀina: maintaining a deep and abiding love for the land which creates and sustains us
»     Moʻokūʻauhau: honoring our lineage and the reciprocal relationship between ʻāina and kānaka
»     ʻAuamo Kuleana: activating and upholding our rights and responsibilities
»      Kūkulu Pilina: building and fostering relationships with our akua, ʻāina, and lāhui
»      Pono: being righteous and proper in all we do 
»     ʻIke Pāpālua: being spiritually grounded and guided by our insights
»     Lōkahi: working together in unity for the collective betterment

Our Collective Impact

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Since 2017, the Collective has met a handful of times to identify our common agenda for advancing wahi kūpuna stewardship:

Protect and Restore Wahi Kūpuna

1. Actively managing our wahi kūpuna, iwi kūpuna, and koehana (artifacts)
2. Developing systems to better navigate the Historic Preservation process and creating best practices for restoring wahi kūpuna 

Empower Community-based Stewardship

1. Building community capacity to mālama wahi kūpuna through participation, collaboration, education, training, and resources
2. Accessing our wahi kūpuna to re-activate and re-vitalize our practices in these spaces ​

Generate and Manage Knowledge

1. Prioritizing ʻŌiwi knowledge systems by honoring place-based expertise, integrating natural and cultural resources, and grounding knowledge in a cultural context 
2. Creating an interdisciplinary systems approach and best practices to properly gather, manage, and disseminate wahi kūpuna data 

Catch Up With Us

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2020 Webinar Series 

2019 Think Tank