Kekoa Harman, Associate Professor of Hawaiian Studies and Hawaiian Language
Kumu Harman’s areas of expertise are in reclaiming the use of Hawaiian language as the primary language of families, and in the instruction of hula and chant.
Posted Aug. 9, 2024
Kekoa Harman is an associate professor of Hawaiian studies and Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. His areas of expertise are in reclaiming the use of Hawaiian language as the primary language of families, and in the instruction of hula and chant.
“The instruction of hula and chant along with the teaching of language requires me to constantly learn, through reading Hawaiian literature, listening to native speakers, and to continue to teach in order to retain this information and understand its function,” he says.
Harman was born and raised on Maui. He attended most of his elementary and intermediate school years in Wailuku, then went to Kamehameha Schools Kapālama in seventh grade through high school, where he learned ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language). After high school, he took Hawaiian language courses at Maui Community College where he earned his associate in arts degree.
Growing up, he learned many Hawaiian chants and songs, which was what inspired him to learn ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, to gain a better understanding of them.
“I was especially interested in hula,” he says. “[That] inspired me to learn the language further so that I could understand what I was chanting, what I was singing, and what I was dancing about.”
And that’s why he came to UH Hilo in 1998 — he was inspired to continue to learn about ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, “and thus I ended up here at UH Hilo,” he says.
Kumu Harman says he feels blessed to be an associate professor at UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, his alma mater. He began his journey at UH Hilo with earning his bachelor of arts in Hawaiian studies in 2001, and then his master of arts in Indigenous language and culture education in 2008. He started in his current teaching position in 2010. In 2020, he earned his doctor of philosophy in Hawaiian and Indigenous language and culture revitalization.
Most significant contribution
Harman lives in Keaʻau, raising a family with his wife Pelehuonuamea Harman, who serves as UH Hilo’s inaugural director of Native Hawaiian engagement. Pele, whose great-grandmother was renowned Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui, taught at Ke Kula ʻO Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu, a public laboratory charter school headed by Ka Haka ʻUla, for 22 years before making the move to the university.
Living what they teach, Pele and Kekoa’s familial life is a living laboratory of research into how Native Hawaiian families can actively help revitalize their ancestral language (and with it, their culture) that was on its way to extinction. The Harman’s have raised all four of their children with ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi as their first and primary language. All their children have attended ʻAha Pūnana Leo, graduated from Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu where their mother taught, and taken courses at the UH Hilo Hawaiian language college where their father teaches.
“Our efforts as a family is my most significant contribution to the revitalization of Hawaiian language and culture,” says Kumu Kekoa Harman.
This dedication to language and culture revitalization is seen in Kekoa and Pele’s children now emerging into adulthood. For example, their eldest daughter, Kalāmanamana, is a graduate of Nāwahī and Dartmouth College, where she earned her bachelor of arts in anthropology and Native American Indigenous studies. As a cultural practitioner of hula and a lifelong learner of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, she firmly believes that land and culture are deeply intertwined. She advocates for the Hawaiian people to have the power to steward their lands, and she is doing the work necessary to help her people reach that goal.
Sharing mele and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, as part of a webinar series called “He Ukana Aloha Kā Kīlauea” produced by the University of Hawaiʻi’s Papa O Ke Ao program (tasked with developing a plan to make the 10-campus UH System a leader in Indigenous education) the Harman family in 2021 shares music, dance, and storytelling from their home in Keaʻau:
As an extension of the cultural values of their home life, and as haumāna ʻuniki (students of intense studies) of Kimo Alama Keaulana, Kekoa and Pele are also kumu hula of Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo (Hālau of the Living Voice of Descendants), one of Hawaiʻi Mokupuni (Hawaiʻi Island) hālau hula focused on raising new generations grounded in the practices of hula from a strong foundation of Hawaiian language fluency. The hālau is conducted solely in the Hawaiian language.
In 2022, the couple was invited to collaborate during a five-day residency at the Kennedy Center in D.C. to create new teachings for their haumāna (students) on Hawaiʻi Island.
- Residency at Kennedy Center enriches teachings of Hawaiian studies scholars Kekoa and Pele Harman (UH Hilo Stories, Nov. 7, 2022)
Hawaiian language movement
While Harman takes deep pride in his children and the students he has taught at UH Hilo, he sees the work that he, his family, and his students undertake to revitalize Hawaiian language and culture as much more than what happens at home and in the classroom. He sees it as part of a Hawaiian language movement.
“I am also very proud of all of the students that I have had the opportunity to teach and work with in the Hawaiian language movement, from the Pūnana Leo level to the collegiate level,” he says. “It brings me great pleasure and pride to see what these students have accomplished and what they are contributing to their own families and communities.”
- UH Hilo Kumu Kekoa Harman feels part of something larger, an ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi movement (UH Hilo Stories, March 15, 2024)
“This is a large community when we talk about the Hawaiian language movement, when we look at the preschool all the way up to the college level right here in East Hawaiʻi,” he says. “We are a part of something that’s much more than just a degree or a Hawaiian language course. We are part of a movement, part of a community.”
“Knowing that you belong to something much greater than yourself is one of the most rewarding things you can have,” he adds.
Students are a window into the future
Associate Professor Harman says he is constantly thinking of new ways to engage and inspire students to engage in learning.
“It is important to not be stagnant and to continue to do things in a new and exciting way, but to remember the foundation — the ʻike (knowledge) — and ways of doing things,” he explains. “The language plays a crucial role in remembering the foundation.”
“I utilize the resources that I have to ensure that this knowledge, this ʻike, will continue to live on,” he says.
A great example of this mindset happened during the pandemic when teaching was done primarily online. While many faculty struggled to adapt, Kumu Harman saw great advantages to the new distance learning format. He thought students being at home with family while doing online learning of the Hawaiian language gave them more familial context, fostering their abilities to bond with the language in new ways.
Kumu Harman says he thinks students are a window into the future.
“Creating new experiences for our haumāna and ʻōlapa (hula students) in order to support and reinforce what they are learning in the classroom and hālau — any of these experiences need to come from field experiences that give them a richer understanding of the language and dances that they learn about,” he says.
“If we want the language and Hawaiian practices to live into perpetuity, we need to understand how they are engaging and using the information we share with them,” says Kumu Harman. “Sometimes the feedback is quick and sometimes the feedback takes time. I need to make sure and pay attention to this so that I am not just seeking out information and doing research for my own pleasure.”
“What is the value of the research and scholarly activities if it will not make an impact and be of value for generations to come?” he asks. “Looking at some of our most eminent scholars like David Malo, Samuel Kamakau, John Papa ʻĪʻī, Mary Kawena Pukui, and our own Larry Kimura — I think they all had a good idea of what would be useful ʻike for our people and those interested in Hawaiian language and culture.”
Lifelong learner
Harman says he looks forward to spending some time writing in the future, possibly a book or books.
“I am an avid reader and podcast listener, along of course with my great love for listening to Ka Leo Hawaiʻi,” he says. “I look forward to meeting with and interacting with people from all over the world, to learn more about languages and cultures, especially Indigenous languages and cultures.”
By Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of Keaohou and UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
