MOʻOLELO MATTERS SPEAKER SERIES –
Kapu: sacred relationships to land & people
In the first installment of our Moʻolelo Matters Speaker Series, AKA’s Executive Director, Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer, sits down with nine indigenous cultural practitioners and educators to discuss KAPU – our sacred relationships between land & people. Our ancestral stories teach us that KAPU took many different forms, marking sacred entities as well as enacting protections to safeguard vital resources. Understanding how KAPU once ordered life in our islands as a governance framework over resources and our relationships with them enables us as Kānaka ʻŌiwi to better understand the lifeways of our kūpuna (ancestors), contextualize the significance of its dismantling across Kō Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina, and decolonize our relationships to place.
Watch the full episodes of the Moʻolelo Matters Speaker Series featuring our conversations with Dr. Kēhaunani Abad, Dr. Kaliko Baker & Kaipulaumakaniolono Baker, Luana Busby-Neff, Dr. Kekuewa Kikiloi, Dr. Kalehua Krug, Kamaleikuhalia Krug, Kaʻiulani Murphy, and Dr. Eruera Tarena.
Moʻolelo Matters – KAPU Series Recap
Watch this 30-min. video of highlights from all seven episodes in this series.
Watch the recording of our video screening event held on Sept. 28, 2023. Featuring a panel discussion with Dr. Kaliko Baker, Kaipulaumakaniolono Baker, Dr. Kekuewa Kikiloi, and Dr. Kalehua Krug.
Episode 1: Dr. Kaliko Baker & Kaipulaumakaniolono Baker
Dr. Kaliko Baker is a Professor of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and was born and raised in Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu. He is deeply committed to the revitalization of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi , researching and writing about ancestral Hawaiian narratives, including co-writing several Hawaiian language plays. He is a longtime member of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana (PKO), a grassroots organization that was instrumental in ending the decades-long of the island of Kahoʻolawe by the U.S. Navy.
Kaipulaumakaniolono Baker was raised speaking Hawaiian at home in Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu and has been involved with PKO since birth, participating in the annual makahiki ceremonies on Kahoʻolawe for many years. Both father and son are Moʻo Lono, practitioners of the lineage of Lono.
Episode 2: Dr. Kēhaunani Abad
Dr. Kēhaunani Abad is a longtime educator, community activist, and scholar from Waiʻanae, Oʻahu with ancestral roots in Kōhala, Hawaiʻi. She is the first Kanaka ʻŌiwi person to receive a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and has served both Kamehameha Schools and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as an educational specialist in Hawaiian culture and history. As the director of Kealaiwikuamoʻo, a division of Kamehameha Schools, she helped to develop Kanaeokana, a network of over 80 Hawaiian-focused schools and organizations dedicated to aloha ʻāina.
Episode 3: Dr. Kekuewa Kikiloi
Dr. Kekuewa Kikiloi is a Professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and received his Ph.D. in Archaeology. He specializes in the preservation and revitalization of wahi kūpuna (places of ancestral significance) and loina kahiko (traditional society). He has authored several publications focusing on the spiritual and cultural resources of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, now a part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. He is originally from Heʻeia and currently resides in Mānoa, Oʻahu.
Episode 4: Dr. Kalehua Krug & Kamaleikuhalia Krug
Dr. Kalehua Krug is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi educator and community activist from Waiʻanae, Oʻahu. He is the principal of Ka Waihona o ka Naʻauao Public Charter School, a traditional Hawaiian tattooist, musician and composer. He is a leading member of Kaʻohewai, a community coalition who erected a koʻa (shrine) at the front gate of the Headquarters of the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet to draw resources and attention to the jet fuel contamination of Oʻahu’s main aquifer by the U.S. Navy.
Kamaleikuhalia Krug is a graduate of Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Ānuenue Hawaiian Immersion School and holds a B.A. in Hawaiian Language from UH Mānoa. With her father and siblings, she performs Hawaiian music as part of the group ʻOhana Krug Music.
Episode 5: Kaʻiulani Murphy
Kaʻiulani Murphy is a native of Waipiʻo and Waimea, Hawaiʻi and now lives with her ʻohana in Waiāhole and Kaʻaʻawa, Oʻahu. She is a hoʻokele (navigator) with the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa and educator on Hawaiian astronomy and wayfinding at Honolulu Community College and UH Mānoa.
Episode 6: Dr. Eruera Tarena
Dr. Eruera Tarena (Ngāi Tahu) is a Māori futures thinker and educator. He is the executive director of Tonoka te Raki, an indigenous social innovation lab dedicated to achieving equity in education, employment, and income for all Māori. He holds a Ph.D. in Indigenous Organization Design from the University of Canterbury and currently resides in Otautahi (Christchurch).
Episode 7: Luana Busby-Neff
Luana Busby-Neff was born on Molokaʻi and now resides on the island of Hawaiʻi. She is a founding member of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana (PKO) and a longti,e cultural advisor experienced in the fields of Hawaiian protocol, education, cultural values, and spirituality, working with numerous communities and organizations across Hawaiʻi. In addition to decades of aloha ʻāina activism, she was one of 38 elders who were arrested in 2019 for peacefully protecting Mauna Kea from the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.