University of Hawaii to be featured at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Posted: Jun 15, 2012

The University of Hawai‘i will be among 20 public land-grant universities to be featured in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. from June 27 to July 8, 2012, marking the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Morrill Act which paved the way for higher education for rural and working class Americans. This year’s Festival is being presented in partnership with APLU, the Association for Public and Land Grant Universities. Close to 80 UH delegates and community partners will travel to the nation’s capitol to celebrate the best in indigenous culture and modern science and demonstrate that the two worlds are being bridged through educational and community outreach.

 

"It is a great honor to have a place of prominence in this sesquicentennial celebration of the creation of public land grant universities in the nation," said University of Hawai‘i President M.R.C. Greenwood. "America's system of higher education is second to none and this is a unique opportunity for us at the University of Hawai‘i to showcase how truly excellent our programs are and to be on a national stage at a historic and unrepeatable moment.”

 

UH’s participation in the Folklife Festival is made possible through the following generous sponsors: the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, Hawai‘i Convention Center, University of Hawai‘i Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution; and in-kind support from other local businesses and the UH Alumni chapters in the Washington, D.C. area.

 

An estimated 1.5 million people visit the festival and enjoy some of the highlights of UH’s presentations below:

 

• Hale Mauli Ola exhibits will share traditional health and healing practices and feature lomi lomi (massage) demonstrations, discussions on nutrition, obesity and traditional Hawaiian physical activity such as makahiki games. Nutrition advocate Dr. Claire Hughes and cultural practitioner Gordon “Umi” Kai will be among the experts on hand.

 

• A mini lo'i kalo (taro patch) where experts like Makahiapo Cashman, Ka Papa Lo‘i O Kānewai, will share their knowledge of plants used for food, medicine and clothing. There will be a medicinal herb display and an organic farming exhibit to be hosted by MA‘O Organic Farms. Organic farmer Derrick Kiyabu and youth leadership fellows will lead discussions and demonstrations.

 

• Presentations on non-instrument navigation and the Hawaiian star compass chart by way-finding expert Kalepa “Chad” Baybayan of the voyaging canoe Hokule‘a and the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo will accompany free screenings of ‘Imiloa’s new “Awesome Light” planetarium visual presentation at the Air and Space Museum’s Einstein Planetarium, by special engagement.

 

• Hawai‘i Community College’s Kumu Hula Taupōuri Tangarō and his 25-member hālau Unukupukupu, will share Hawaiian culture, history and traditions through oli (chant), mele (song) and hula (dance). “If the people walk away realizing that hula is not so much entertainment as it is a process of transformation, I’ll be satisfied. We want people to see for themselves how we are creating leadership models and academic success using this 2000-year-old story,” said Tangarō.

 

• From the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, the Tuahine Troupe, under the leadership of Professor and Kumu Hula Keawe Lopes, will provide an unforgettable journey through Hawai‘i’s musical and hula heritage, with instrumental, vocal, and dance presentations on the large stage, at intimate venues under the “UH tent” and at the prestigious Kennedy Center in a special Folklife Festival performance.

 

• The UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) will feature its outreach and research work in aquaponics, sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, and honeybees/crop pollination. CTAHR is one of the world’s leaders in these fields and in tropical agricultural systems - natural contemporary outgrowths of Hawaiian traditional and indigenous sustainable knowledge.

 

• Auntie Naomi Losch, Hawaiian Language professor with UH Mānoa, will present language lessons and discuss the value of an indigenous culture’s language, how its identity, history and world view are all contained within this oral tradition. She will also share how the university has played a critical role in the revitalization and perpetuation of the ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i.

 

• The John A. Burns School of Medicine, through its Department of Native Hawaiian Health and community partners, will discuss several community-based health interventions. Mele Look, on behalf of our Queen’s Medical Center and university partnership, will discuss the benefits that cardiac patients saw while participating in a 12-week hula class as part of a cardiac rehabilitation program. Dr. Claire Hughes, on behalf of the PILI ‘Ohana community-academic partnership, will share a community-based and led project to eliminate obesity and diabetes in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

 

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Hawai‘i to be on the national and world stage. It will also give the university and its festival delegates the unique opportunity to learn from and connect with other cultures and people and pave the way for greater collaboration far beyond this summer’s Festival.

 

"One of our core missions is to become the model indigenous serving educational institution in the U.S. Our presenters and performers will be personally and interactively sharing the culture and traditions of our home land and also demonstrating how science and academics provide a bridge from the past to the future, said President Greenwood. “The theme 'Campus and Community' must be evident in everything we do. That's why we're taking our community partners up with us to show how we serve our community as a land grant university. We will endeavor to be worthy representatives of this special institution and all it means to the people of Hawai‘i."

 

Signature/Special Events:

 

Sunday, June 24: Kamehameha Statue Draping Ceremony

Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitors Center

 

Tuesday, June 26: Unukupukupu special performance

Library of Congress

 

Wednesday, June 27: Opening Ceremonies, Folklife Festival 2012

 

Thursday, June 28: Hawai‘i Mahalo Reception hosted by Hawai‘i’s Congressional Delegation and Governor Neil Abercrombie

 

Friday, July 6: Tuahine Troupe special performance

The Kennedy Center