LIHU’E – The Papahana Kuaola Native Hawaiian organization received a nearly $85,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as part of a multi-organizational effort to revitalize ‘olelo Hawai’i, the Hawaiian language, from Keiki to Kupuna.
Historically, the primary language of Hawaii, ‘olelo Hawai’i, was banned from schools in 1896 by the governing body of the Republic of Hawaii, three years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.
With penalties for Hawaiian-speaking students and educational institutions discouraging even the use of the language in the home, the prominence of ‘olelo Hawai’i soon plummeted in all spheres of public life.
This trend would continue through most of the 20th century, until a revival of identity and cultural pride in the late 1960s spurred a renewed interest in embracing Hawaiian culture, and in particular the Hawaiian language.
Although ‘olelo Hawai’i became an official state language in 1978, it was not until 1986 that the ban on teaching the language in schools was lifted.
“A lot of people don’t realize that, until recently, it was illegal for the Department of Education to teach the Hawaiian language in schools,” said Keoua Nelsen, project manager for Papahana Kuaola. “We’re really talking about just 40, 50 years ago.”
Nelsen continued, considering this change to be probably the most significant for the modern revival of the ‘Hawai’i olelo.
“It was when it became legal for the language to be taught in the public school system that we saw what I think is the second renaissance of real language growth,” he said.
Still, that growth has been slow. According to a 2007 study, there are only about 2,000 native speakers of Hawaiian. In addition, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) still classifies ‘olelo Hawai’i as a critically endangered language, the agency’s most extreme classification for a surviving language.
With the Hawaiian language still under threat, much of the Kanaka Maoli culture is also under threat. Nelsen summed up this struggle with a Hawaiian proverb: “I ke ‘olelo no ke ola, i ka ‘olelo no ka make”, or in English, “In language there is life, in language there is death.”
“I think we couldn’t really begin to understand our cultural practices unless we revive our language,” he said. “In language, culture and cultural practices live and thrive. So for me, normalizing the use of the Hawaiian language becomes very important.”
O’ahu-based Papahana Kuaola, one of several organizations involved in the OHA program, is working with 10 Hawaiian families in approximately 40 weekly classes to teach fundamental skills and lessons on ‘olelo Hawai’i across multiple generations. Making use of the organization’s 63-acre Kane’ohe property, much of the lessons are intended to be immersive and hands-on, linking the Hawaiian language with cultural practices.
“Whether it’s stream restoration or native plant identification and things like that, (we’re) turning it into a more lively kind of lesson than a classroom,” Nelsen said. “The focus will, of course, be with parents and grandparents, so they can take these skills and reinforce them at home with their children and grandchildren.” Ultimately, OHA intends to collect data from the Papahana Kuaola project, as well as similar projects conducted by other organizations in Hawaii, to create a report on the status and use of ‘olelo Hawaii’i. With this guide, OHA intends to better inform future efforts to further revitalize the Hawaiian language.
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jackson healyreporter, he can be reached at 808-647-4966 or [email protected].
