Uluākea: Profound Inspiration
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Overview
Uluākea is a program focusing on developing the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo into more of a Hawaiian place of learning. Currently, the principal effort within Uluākea is a faculty & curriculum development program that works with teaching faculty in various academic disciplines to gain a more authentic & practical understanding of indigenous ways of knowing the world. They are expected to apply these ways of understanding the world to their courses through the modification of courses they already teach or through the development of new courses in which this is incorporated as the foundation.
Uluākea is also actively involved in other areas of the campus to help the University community transform into a Hawaiian place of learning.
Foundation
Hawaiʻi has a particular and unique geography that continues to engender a unique character in its human residents. The traditional Hawaiʻi native's relationship with the geography of Hawaiʻi has engineered over many generations a non-exploitive system of environmental oneness that has defined not only a lifestyle, but also a balanced, living system founded on environmental knowledge.
In the face of the rapid deterioration of Hawaiʻi's natural geography, a threat to all that is Hawaiʻi, environmental and human, is looming. The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, as the main educational and research institution on this island, is best situated to influence island-wide efforts to mitigate the deterioration of our environment.
Uluākea's principal goal is to support systemic change at UH Hilo to promote a foundation based on Hawaiʻi's worldviews. It is an instrument designed to reconnect us with Hawaiʻi's natural environment, and to pull from this connection the traditional Hawaiʻi clues and triggers necessary to ensure that Hawaiʻi is not lost to globalization.
Process
For this institution to become a Hawaiian environmental university, processes throughout the institution must evolve to be conducive to this way of engaging the world. Whether in the classroom, advising students, conducting research, doing daily office business, participating in the tenure and promotion process, or maintaining the landscape, special attention needs to be paid to components of Hawaiian processes.
Uluākea is engaged in the modification of current courses and the development of new courses which will be the model and catalyst for curricular change at UH Hilo. These courses - some on Hawaiian topics and some not - will be based on a Hawaiian worldview congruent with Uluākea's objectives, the foremost of which is Native Hawaiian student success.
Uluākea also supports an initiative toward the development of a Cultural Studies discipline here at UH Hilo. It is our belief that the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Studies is based on a theoretical foundation that is conducive to the acceptance and value of traditionally marginalized perspectives.
The Uluākea Process focuses upon the cyclical relationship that lies in the interdependence between process and outcome. It involves taking a holistic approach toward observation, participation, and adaptability, with a focus on accountability to the environment.
What does the Uluākea process look like?
Ka Hoʻokua ʻĀina - A holistic focus on both place, space, and energy.
- A foundation in Hawaiʻi's environment and ecology; a recognition of and commitment to the relationships that exist between the natural and social phenomena in our environment.
- A learning environment imbued with social and cultural contexts that draws on awareness and alignment with the natural settings, and personal experiences that encompass Hawaiʻi.
Ka Pilina ʻĀina - A participatory consciousness of the cyclical, interdependent relationship between all things.
Ka Ho'oulu ʻĀina - Accountability to the reciprocal relationships that exist within both the social and natural environments.