{"id":204530,"date":"2024-10-01T15:33:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T01:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=204530"},"modified":"2025-09-16T13:50:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T23:50:21","slug":"indigenous-educators-engage-in-aina-ike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/01\/indigenous-educators-engage-in-aina-ike\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous educators engage in \u02bb\u0101ina, \u02bbike at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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loʻi:<\/span> Indigenous educators work in Kānewai loʻi<\/span> at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> School of Hawaiian Knowledge<\/a> (HSHK) at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa welcomed more than 100 Indigenous educators from around the world for the annual World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium<\/a> (WINHEC<\/abbr>) 2024 conference. The five-day event, held September 27–30, attracted educators from as far as Norway, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, and Canada, to share cultural ʻike<\/span> (knowledge) and practices in Indigenous education.<\/p>\n

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More than 100 participants from across the globe flew to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> for <\/abbr>WINHEC<\/abbr> 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“This is why it\u2019s so important for K\u0101naka Maoli to own the fact that we are Indigenous native peoples and that we have the spiritual connection to the land, to the waters, to our ancestors that is so similar to Saami, Apache, M\u0101ori regardless of where people come from,” said Jon Osorio, dean of Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span>.<\/p>\n

WINHEC<\/abbr>, first established in 2002 in Alberta, Canada, is a global effort to advance Indigenous studies in higher education. The conference serves as a forum for members of Indigenous-serving institutions to discuss Indigenous philosophies and knowledge systems. While most of the 2024 conference took place in Waik\u012bk\u012b, a key breakout session was an all day cultural experience at the M\u0101noa campus at Ka Papa Loʻi<\/span> o K\u0101newai<\/a>, the site of HSHK<\/abbr>\u2019s loʻi<\/span> kalo (taro patch) and cultural garden.<\/abbr><\/p>\n

ʻĀina<\/span>-based education<\/h2>\n
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Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> students teach WINHEC<\/abbr> participants about kalo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the session, participants engaged in hands-on learning led by Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> haum\u0101na (students), who demonstrated traditional kalo cultivation, the importance of our water systems, and traditional imu (underground) cooking methods. Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span>, home to the nation\u2019s largest Indigenous studies program, deeply values ʻāina<\/span>-based learning\u2014education rooted in the land, its resources, and people.<\/p>\n

“The things that our ancestors knew about how to live off of this land, we believe are becoming increasingly important to sustain us for many generations,” Osorio added.<\/p>\n

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Participants learn about traditional imu cooking from Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the attendees was Bashqwaa-idaamoqwe Roxanne Delille, an Ojibwe from Minnesota and dean of Indigenous and Academic Affairs at Fond du Lac Tribal Community College.<\/p>\n

“When we think about that old knowledge, how do we pick that back up again and reclaim it so that we become stronger in who we are,” Delille said. “That\u2019s the beauty of it!”<\/p>\n

Accreditation achievement<\/h2>\n

On the final day of the conference, Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> received a prestigious renewal of a 10-year WINHEC<\/abbr> accreditation, honoring the school\u2019s dedication to preserving and revitalizing Indigenous knowledge.<\/p>\n

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From left, Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa<\/span>, Malia Nobrega-Olivera, Nalani Balutski, Jon Osorio and Walter Kahumoku.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> hosted the WINHEC<\/abbr> 2024 conference,a global effort to advance Indigenous studies in higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[33,551,459,1465,9],"class_list":["post-204530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-hawaiian","tag-hawaiinuiakea-school-of-hawaiian-knowledge","tag-ka-papa-loi-o-kanewai","tag-manoa-native-hawaiian-place-of-learning","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204530"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222131,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204530\/revisions\/222131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}