UH Hilo to collaborate with National Park Service to research Pu‘uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historic Park

Investigators and UH Hilo graduate student will collaborate with National Park Service resource managers to conduct ethnographic research using archival research and oral history techniques.

Grass thatch roofed structure surrounded by wooden fence with high rock walls located behind. Wooden carvings of the gods stand tall beside the structure.. Palms. Ocean in foreground.
Pu‘uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park in Captain Cook, Hawai‘i Island.

The University of Hawai‘i at Hilo is receiving an $88, 218 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service (NPS) in a cooperative agreement to conduct an oral history overview and assessment for Pu‘uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park in Captain Cook, Hawai‘i Island.

Investigators and a graduate student with UH Hilo’s new master of arts in heritage management program and NPS resource managers will collaborate on ethnographic research using archival research and oral history techniques.

“Project cooperators and funded graduate students will complete a compilation and synthesis of ethno-historical data for the park from multiple sources and repositories,” the Park Service states in an overview of the project.

As part of this compilation, the UH Hilo graduate student undertaking this project will obtain originals or copies of relevant ethno-historical data currently not held by the Park Service and catalog these materials under NPS guidance. The student also will participate in ethnographic interviews, help write the oral history overview and assessment, and also will complete a master’s thesis.

The principal investigators and graduate student will work with the park to assess compiled information, further existing relationships and rapport with individuals who are long standing members of the Honaunau-Ki‘ilae communities of South Kona and have familial ties to the lands the park currently encompasses. Researchers will conduct ethnographic interviews with community members to gain further insight into history of the families and community use of the region and park lands.

Researchers also will investigate the traditional Hawaiian carvings displayed at the park using similar ethnographic techniques.

Researchers will compile the documented resources in appropriate databases.

-UH Hilo Stories

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